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    Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah keen on replacing G Parameshwara with SR Patil

    Synopsis

    Siddaramaiah wants to replace state Congress president G Parameshwara with his confidant SR Patil, 66, who is the minister for information technology.

    ET Bureau
    BENGALURU: Seeking to neutralise the few dissident voices against him, the powerful Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah wants to replace state Congress president G Parameshwara with his confidant SR Patil, 66, who is the minister for information technology, bio technology, science and statistics.

    Parameshwara completed his three-year term as president in October 2014 and is on an extension up to June. He is likely to be inducted in the next cabinet expansion, expected any time soon, as a minister, though he wants to be deputy CM.

    He has been trying to emerge as an alter native power centre to Siddaramaiah and has publicly criticised the functioning of the state government. By replacing him with Patil, Siddaramaiah hopes to achieve two objectives -please the numerically powerful Lingayat community that Patil belongs to and ensure that his grip on the party tightens because Patil is considered close to him.

    "The CM is pushing for Patil," a leader close to Siddaramaiah told ET.However, the move has run into some trouble because party national vicepresident Rahul Gandhi is reportedly keen that a dynamic youngster, like Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan, take over the reins in Karnataka.

    Minister of state for agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda, 41, a Vokkaliga leader perceived to be close to Gandhi, was reportedly approached for the job. Gowda, however, is said to have expressed his lack of interest and is said to have asked to be continued in his ministerial post.

    It is said that Gowda and other "performing" junior ministers like Dinesh Gundu Rao, Sharan Prakash Patil and Umasri, who is close to the CM, may be elevated to the cabinet rank in the expected expansion. This, according to a source close to Gowda, is a major reason why he doesn't want to become party president at this juncture. "Both the CM and the party high command is clear that a person from a dominant community , either a Lingayat or Vokkaliga, should occupy the party post. But while the high command wants a generational shift now, the CM is planning to implement that shift at a later date, closer to state assembly elections. He wants Patil to occupy the post till then," the leader added.

    Another party source said that if the high command insists on a younger person, Karnataka's special representative in New Delhi CS Nadagouda, also known as Appaji, 56, water resources minister MB Patil, 50, and minister of state for medical education Sharan Prakash Patil, 47, were the options.

    All three are Lingayats. Sharan Prakash Patil is a staunch follower of Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun M Kharge.



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