Karnataka Congress to continue with Dalit face ahead of assembly polls

He is currently the Home Minister of the state and is likely to resign to the post in June.

The Congress high command put all speculation to rest and decided to continue with Dr. G Parameshwar as the head of the Karnataka unit of the party. There is less than a year to go for the assembly elections in Karnataka and the party decided that it would continue with the Dalit face to lead the party.

There was speculation rife that the Congress would appoint D K Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga. However the caste survey conducted indicated a bigger population of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes in the state when compared to the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.

Parameshwar had completed his five year term in October 2015, but got an extension of two years. His term came to an end this month, but the high command decided to extend it keeping in mind the forthcoming elections in the state.

Sources say that Parameshwar will take up the assignment full time. He is currently the Home Minister of the state and is likely to resign to the post in June. He would want to focus entirely on party work ahead of the elections, the source also said. The Congress which rules very few states in the country today wants to put in its best resources to ensure that Karnataka is retained.

The BJP on the other hand want to snatch the state away from the Congress to put back its government in South which it lost in the 2013 elections. The BJP which relies heavily on the Lingayat vote bank too has been wooing weaker castes in the state. The re-appointment of Paramashwar is seen as a move to counter that.

OneIndia News