Talks on revamping Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee resurface

Talks about revamping the Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee (DCC) have come to the fore again after two senior leaders of the party reportedly ‘slapped’ each other in the Congress office in Mangaluru on December 2.

However, K. Harish Kumar, president of the committee, while speaking to mediapersons has denied the ‘slapping’ incident stating that nothing of that sort took place.

The DCC had been revamped last in 2017 when Mr. Kumar was appointed as its head. He was also a member of Legislative Council for six years till June 17, 2024.

Mr. Kumar took over from Ibrahim Kodijal who was the interim president of the committee for three years since 2014. The Congress appointed Mr. Kodijal as the interim president after the then president B. Ramanath Rai was inducted into the Cabinet led by CM Siddaramaiah as the Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology in 2013.

Sources in the party told The Hindu that the party workers have now begun discussing the need to revamp the committee as the ‘slapping’ incident occurred between a former MLC and a former ZP member.

Though talks over revamping some of the District Congress Committees in the State have been doing the rounds for sometime now, including that of DK DCC, they have not become a reality.

G.C. Chandrashekar, working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and also Rajya Sabha member, went on record in Mangaluru mid-September saying that the party wants to regain its old glory in the coastal region of Karnataka by facing the BJP which has gained ground in the belt over the years. The party has decided to have adopt a new strategy by framing a plan of action to rebuild the grand old party in the belt.

Sources said that in addition to Mr. Rai, party workers have floated the names of K. Abhayachandra Jain, a former Minister, M. Shashidhar Hegde, a former Mayor, Padmaraj R. Poojary, who contested the last Lok Sabha elections from Dakshina Kannada unsuccessfully, and M.G. Hegde, a spokesperson of the KPCC, to head the district committee.

In addition, Muslim leaders in the party want a leader from their community appointed to the post.

They said that as the party will have to gear up to face two important elections – to the Mangaluru City Corporation Council and zilla and taluk panchayats – next year, the workers are looking for a leader who can dedicate all their time to work along with the party by strengthening it from the booth-level.

When contacted, Mr. Kumar told The Hindu that when he resigned two years ago, the party did not accept it.

Published - December 13, 2024 09:21 pm IST