Rahul revamps Cong K'taka unit ahead of assembly poll

Ahead of next year's Assembly election, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday revamped the party's Karnataka unit by appointing 15 district chiefs and nominating a jumbo executive committee.
 
Rahul also announced a 35-member manifesto committee and made former chief minister M Veerappa Moily its chairman and former Lok Sabha member B L Shankar its vice chairman.
 
The committee's other members include veteran Margaret Alva, state working presidents Dinesh Gundu Rao and S R Patil, senior ministers Kagodu Thimmappa, H K Patil, M B Patil, Ramalinga Reddy and K J George.Following are district unit presidents: Lakshman Rao Chingale (Chikkodi), Vinay Navalgatti (Belgaum), Rafiq (Bellari City), K Harish Kumar (Dakshina Kannada), Jagadeva Guttedar (Kalaburagi), Syed Ajampeer Khadri (Haveri), M B Shivamudappa (Kodagu), Janardhana Thonse (Udupi), S Gangadhar (Ramanagara), M Rajakumar (Bengaluru North), G Shekar (Bengaluru Central), G Krishnappa (Bengaluru South), Altaf Hallur (Hubli City), Basavaraj Jaab Shetty (Bidar) and G Keshava Reddy (Chikkaballapura).
 
All-inclusive executive
 
The executive committee has 94 members with CWC members, AICC officer bearers, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, MPs from the state, former chief ministers, former state unit presidents and former union ministers being included as ex-officio members.
 
Special invitees to the Executive Committee include all the ministers and chiefs of frontal organisations in the state.
 
Last week, Rahul had held a meeting with Karnataka leaders, including Siddaramaiah, G Parameshwara, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Moily to review the functioning of the state unit.
 
The Congress had settled the factional feud in the Karnataka unit by making it clear in May that the election next year would be contested under the leadership of Siddaramaiah. As per the agreed formula, G Parmeshwara quit as Home Minister of the state to focus his energies on his role as President of the state Congress.
 
DH News Service