Bengaluru: After being routed in the Karnataka Lok Sabha election, the Congress has begun shifting blames. The latest victim in a bid to find a scapegoat, is none other than KC Venugopal, the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) general secretary, who is in-charge of the state.

Several Congress leaders have demanded his ouster after his failure to turnaround the fortunes of the Congress in Karnataka. They have decided to approach senior party leaders and push for his sacking.

Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig was the first to launch a scathing attack on Venugopal and called him a ‘buffoon’. Some others in the Congress alleged that Venugopal has often favoured Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah.

Also watch: Karnataka Congress leader Roshan Baig slams own party, demands resignation of top leaders

Venugopal had replaced Digvijaya Singh as the in-charge of the state unit, much to the acceptance of members of the Congress.

After Lok Sabha poll results where the Congress won only one out of 28 seats in the state, senior leaders gathered courage to launch a campaign to oust him.  

MyNation spoke to former minister Professor BK Chandrasekhar who is Congress’s vice-president. He highlighted the things that may have backfired not just for Venugopal but also for the party.

Chandrasekhar said, “I have been told by members within the party that KC Venugopal has often been far too busy to meet people.”

However, Chandrasekhar also pointed out that constant in-fighting within the Congress, where people are “power-hungry” have set a wrong example before the people that even Venugopal would not have been able to control.

Also read: Karnataka: After Roshan Baig, MLA K Sudhakar strikes at coalition government on Lok Sabha exit polls

“Leaders must set an example but their fighting is nothing but lack of maturity. Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between sycophancy and political loyalty,” stated Chandrasekhar.

Furthermore, he stated the Congress began making ridiculous statements one after the other and in the process, the entire party paid for it. “They could have decided not to speak critically of one another, but they didn’t and we all paid a huge price for it,” he opined.

He also pointed out that the Congress has not been able to live up to the expectations of the people, its MLAs and the coalition partner JD(S).

Chandrasekhar added that neither the top leaders within the party nor Venugopal took it upon themselves to travel across Karnataka and talk to leaders and people alike on why the coalition was necessary in Karnataka.

Congress spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa said the party members demanding the ouster of Venugopal could be because of the sheer disappointment in not winning the Lok Sabha poll.

He added, “The other thing is that, people have been disappointed in not being given a place in the Cabinet. Naturally then, they are looking to shift the blame on to someone else, and who else would it be apart from the general secretary.”

Speaking on allegations of Venugopal being close to former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Kalappa defended, “That is something that has every general secretary will face. But things pass.”

The Congress is now in damage-control mode by setting things right in Delhi and getting clarity on whether party president Rahul Gandhi would continue or not.

On the other hand, BJP Spokesperson S Prakash told MyNation, “Congress is in shambles and there are always people accusing one another. Congress is power-hungry and we all know that simply on how the coalition was formed. They were neither ideologically inclined nor working towards the people. They just did it for personal gains.”