Parameshwara to step down as Cong chief after eight years
Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara announced on Saturday that he would step down as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, a post he has held for a record eight years.
“I’ve been party president for eight years. But now, I must play a proactive role in the government, so I will not continue as the party president,” he told reporters. “Someone better than me should become the president and strengthen the party’s organisation.”
Parameshwara was appointed the KPCC president in October 2010 and led the party during the 2013 Assembly, the 2014 Lok Sabha and the May 12 polls Assembly polls. The post of KPCC president will assume significance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
According to sources, senior leader D K Shivakumar is the frontrunner for the post. However, former union minister K H Muniyappa, former water resources minister M B Patil and Rajya Sabha member B K Hariprasad are also contenders. Earlier this week, Shivakumar had scornfully remarked: “Since eight years, he (Parameshwara) has been saying he’ll leave the post. Many are sitting with their mouth open for that post.”
In the run-up to the polls, the party adopted a one-person-one-post stand. Going by this, there is no clarity on what could happen to the two KPCC working presidents Dinesh Gundu Rao and S R Patil. Both are aspiring to become ministers.
