Talks in CLP meet to focus on developing roadmap for Karnataka: D Gundu Rao

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday said the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting today will focus on the progress of the state and added that the allocation of portfolios will not be the primary concern.

"Can't give details of the CLP meeting, but we have a road map for the future. We want programs of the government to fructify. Who will be a minister and who won't be is secondary. We want to change the image of Karnataka, we want it to be seen as a state that is on the road to progress," Rao told reporters here.

He added that all MLAs would be taken into confidence and the presence of senior leader KC Venugopal would help in discussing the matters in the state.

He asserted that many party workers from Karnataka are holding protests against Congress president Rahul Gandhi's decision to resign from his post and also personally requested Gandhi to continue on the post.

"Today most of our workers have protested and urged Gandhi to continue as the Congress president. We have seen the last 5 years of the Modi administration and what all disasters happened in his regime. We all request Gandhi to continue as AICC president," Rao said.

In view of the tumultuous political developments in Karnataka, Congress party's state unit has called for a CLP meeting on May 29 in Bengaluru.

Along with Rao, former chief minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and other leaders are also scheduled to be present in the meeting.

The JDS-Congress coalition, which is in power in the state, went through a rough patch during the campaigning of the recently held elections with leaders of both the parties accusing each other. Congress has 79 MLAs while Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) has 37 MLAs in the coalition government holding power in the state.

The tensions between the two parties benefitted the BJP which won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka while both JDS and Congress had to content itself with just one seat each. However, the Karnataka Congress unit had said that there was no threat to the coalition in the state.

( With inputs from ANI )