Bengaluru, Nov 28 (IANS) The fierce squabbling and open confrontation in the Karnataka unit of the Congress party, over the Chief Minister’s chair, has drawn sharp criticism from party veteran and former Union Minister Veerappa Moily.

Moily, in an interaction with IANS, came down heavily on the Karnataka Congress for the all-out fight over the CM-ship, leading to national embarrassment and also lambasted the Congress high command for failing to act on time and “allowing the situation to worsen”.

The senior Congress leader took strong exception to one-upmanship and posturing by the two camps, under CM Siddaramaiah and his Deputy DK Shivakumar and lamented the “anarchic” state in which the party was caught.

“There is a free-for-all, practically an anarchy. Each community is taking its own cudgels. Some communities even say that they will not vote for Congress,” he said and demanded that the Congress high command must direct the leaders to keep quiet and stick to discipline.

He further said that Congress is already on a weak wicket in many states, and somebody must be held responsible for the “manufactured crisis” here, else the party will not be able to hold on to power.

Moily, who served as Congress Chief Minister in Karnataka, also asked the high command to set its house to prevent its decimation by the BJP’s politics of “bulldozing” its rivals.

“Casteism is a great evil for the party. Congress is committed to secularism. That very concept is being demolished. All leaders must be restrained from canvassing through their individual channels. Discipline must be brought in first, and then negotiations can happen over the continuation of CM or possible change in guard,” he said.

Moily’s criticism of Congress brass assumes significance as the latter has been struggling to strike a balance between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar’s loyalists, trying to prevent a split amidst their much-publicised spat.

When questioned on the “third option” for resolving the face-off, Moily, however, said that he doesn’t support any faction but said that lobbying through their own support bases and communities must stop, and order should prevail.

“I will not comment on who should continue, whether he should continue or whether a new Chief Minister will come or not. First, discipline has to be brought into the party, and the rest can be discussed later,” he told IANS in a special interaction.

–IANS

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