Digvijaya to be shown the door: Congress in clean up mode

The most important demands have been to sack Digvijaya Singh as the observer and to appoint D K Shivakumar as the KPCC chief.

The Karnataka Congress is in a cleanup mode and a reshuffle in the party's leadership is slated to take place after the bypoll in Gundlupet and Nanjangud. With multiple complaints against All India Congress Committee General secretary and Karnataka in-charge Digvijaya Singh, the party's senior leadership is all set to replace him before the upcoming assembly polls in 2018. While Gulam Nabi Azad is being considered as a replacement, more names are in the fray for the same.

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Changes will not be limited to Digvijaya's exit, but will also trickle down to state leadership level. Given the infighting over leadership crisis in the state, the high command is expected to either ask Parameshwara to resume full charge as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president or appoint D K Shivakumar as the party's chief in the state. While the portrayal is that the fight is for the KPCC president's post, the fact is that the two are contending to be the chief minister face of the party.

Over the last few weeks, multiple representations from the state Congress has been made to the central leadership. Two of their most important demands have been to sack Digvijaya Singh as the observer and to appoint D K Shivakumar as the KPCC chief. A chunk of the Congress workers and AICC office bearers have been rallying behind D K Shivakumar to be made the President as well as the chief ministerial face of the Congress for the 2018 assembly elections.

Complaints of Digvijaya's lack of connect with the local leaders and the situation have ben piling up. After the Goa fiasco, the leaders in Karnataka are unwilling to let Digvijaya Singh make decisions or have a say. The feedback that the Congress leaders in Karnataka have received from their Goan counterparts has had a lot of impact on the way Digvijaya Singh is being perceived. The changes are slated to take place soon after the April 9 bypoll.

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