SM Krishna complains to Sonia, Rahul against Siddaramaiah

New Delhi, Mar 30: Senior Congress leader S M Krishna on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi here, to present what was described as a candid' picture of the state of affairs in Karnataka under Siddaramaiah.

The veteran leader conveyed to the party high command that things would be dangerously on the slide, if they went unchecked and correctives were not applied soon.

Krishna impressed upon the two top leaders about the scenario in the State on account of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's approach to issues, including the handling of the severe drought and more importantly, the “unwarranted” controversy caused by setting up the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which will take over corruption cases being probed by the Lokayukta, Congress insiders said.

He reiterated the views of a large number of Congressmen that the move on ACB was a bad development'. He said that the Karnataka Lokayukta had earned a good reputation under some able Lokayuktas.

MLAs unhappy'

Krishna told Sonia and Rahul that many Congress MLAs were very unhappy with the drop in popularity of the State government in view of the controversies and perceived lack of good governance.

Setting up of the ACB was a unilateral decision of Siddaramaiah and he had not taken the party into confidence, Krishna is learnt to have told the party leaders.

The State is facing unprecedented drought this year and there is an impression that the administration is not focusing adequately to address the situation, he reportedly said.

While the chief minister's luxury watch row had embarrassed the party as well as the government, Siddaramaiah's defence on this issue was not convincing.

Krishna's interaction with the party high command was seen as an attempt to convey a “wake-up” signal from the State leaders over a growing political situation, which could be exploited by the opposition parties, particularly the BJP, ahead of the 2018 polls.

The former chief minister was worried that unless urgent corrective steps were taken, it would be difficult to stave off the possibility of dissidence, which could be exploited by BJP, like in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.