Rahul reaches Karnataka to stop fissures in state party unit

Hubballi: Former AICC President and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday arrived in Karnataka on a two-day visit.
After arriving at the city’s airport, he and his accomplice KC Venugopal were welcomed by state party leaders and straight away driven to the venue where he is participating in the first state-level party’s political affairs committee meeting.
The meeting is being attended by senior party leaders including former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state party president DK Shivakumar.
The 35-member committee is expected to discuss the party’s preparations for next year’s assembly election in the state.
Rahul is attending the meeting amidst a political slugfest in the party between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who are in the race for occupying chief minister’s seat in future.
However, both the leaders have been denying differences in the party and claiming that they would fight the elections unitedly.
The meeting is also expected to deliberate on several national issues, including price rise and unemployment and the law and order situation in the state following three murders taking place in Dakshina Kannada district since July 19.
On Wednesday, Rahul will grace the 75th birthday bash of Siddaramaiah in Davanagere. He is also scheduled to visit Sri Muruga Rajendra Mutt situated in Chitradurga. The mutt is a prominent religious centre of the Lingayat community.
The meeting is being seen as an attempt by the Congress to woo the community, which is BJP’s vote bank, amidst BJP strong man BS Yediyurappa being not in the helm of party affairs.
After the visit to the mutt, Rahul will address a public rally at Shamanur in Davanagere district along with state party leaders. (UNI)