BBMP verdict: Will Siddaramaiah be replaced? No says Congress

Bengaluru, Aug 25: With the ruling Congress in Karnataka losing the prestigious BBMP elections, the question on everyone's mind is will Chief Minister Siddaramaiah be replaced.

While he does have many enemies within the party, the general view is that there shall be no shake up immediately, although the name of Mallikarjuna Kharge is already doing the rounds to take over as the next Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Congress leaders however say that currently they are assessing the loss and that is more important. It appears as though one of the major reasons for the loss in the elections was the lack of coordination by the Bengaluru based ministers.

The ministers that the Chief Minister is speaking with are Dinesh Gundu Rao, George and Ramalinga Reddy and their view on the loss would be taken.

Will there be a change of guard?

Prior to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, it was largely believed that if the Congress performed badly in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah may be replaced. However there was no whisper of any such move after the Congress did lose heavily to the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress spokesperson, Brijesh Kalappa tells OneIndia that there is no reason for any change now. I don't think Siddaramaiah will be replaced because of the verdict in the BBMP elections. The voters of Bengaluru have been with the BJP and even in the Lok Sabha elections they won all the three seats from the city.

The Congress does not change Chief Ministers unless and until there are grave corruption charges against them. Here there are no serious charges against Siddaramaiah and he has performed quite well and hence the question of him being changed does not arise. Moreover we have done well in other local bodies, Kalappa also adds.

Internal bickering:

However in the days to come the Congress would have to do a lot of firefighting due to this loss in the elections. The blame is already on four persons including the Chief Minister. While many say that the CM has always neglected Bengaluru, some others in the Congress feel that the lack of coordination is what brought about this loss.

Dinesh Gundu Rao, George and Ramalinga Reddy in particular will have a lot of answering to do as it is alleged that they could have coordinated better. Meanwhile there are many within the Congress would try and use this as opportunity to have the Chief Minister changed. The likes of G Parameshwahar and Mallikarjuna Kharge have never been in favour of Siddaramaiah.

The Congress will tread very carefully before taking any brash decision. Making any change now would only result in a big split in the party as Siddaramaiah will not take things lying down if there is an attempt made to usurp his position.