Dr Mahadevappa, Venkatesh & Tanveer Sait hold closed-door huddle
Mysuru
A quiet meeting between three senior Congress leaders denied ministerial berths has set the political grapevine buzzing in Karnataka.
Former ministers Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, K. Venkatesh and Tanveer Sait came together for a closed-door discussion in Mysuru on Tuesday, amid growing discontent within the Congress following the recent Cabinet expansion.
The meeting assumes significance as all three leaders are considered senior figures in the party and had been hoping for a place in the expanded ministry. Their coming together has triggered speculation over whether a new political equation is taking shape within the ruling Congress.
Sait, however, sought to play down the political overtones of the meeting, saying that although the three leaders belonged to the same party, they had not been particularly close to one another.
“We are all from the same party, but we were not that close. However, the present situation requires us to come together. Everything is not right within the Congress, particularly after the Cabinet expansion,” Sait said.
He indicated that the current political circumstances had prompted the leaders to exchange views and that they now felt they should perhaps have met much earlier.
The meeting is being viewed against the backdrop of simmering disappointment among several senior Congress aspirants who were left out of the Cabinet expansion. While the leadership has attempted to project unity, the latest developments have brought internal equations and expectations within the party under renewed scrutiny.
The larger question doing the rounds in Congress circles is whether the meeting was merely an informal exchange among disgruntled seniors or the beginning of a more coordinated effort to convey their concerns to the party leadership.
Yatindra steps in
Meanwhile, in an apparent bid to prevent the issue from snowballing, Urban Development and Mysuru District In-charge Minister Dr. Yatindra Siddaramaiah met the three leaders in the evening.
The details of the meeting were not immediately known, and it remained unclear what exactly transpired during the discussions. However, sources said Dr. Yatindra appeared keen to understand the concerns of the three senior leaders and patch up differences before the brewing discontent turns into a larger political issue.
His intervention assumes significance at a time when the Congress leadership is keen to maintain a united front after the Cabinet reshuffle and expansion.
The closed-door meetings have therefore set off fresh speculation: Is this merely a meeting of three senior leaders nursing disappointment, or the first sign of a larger political conversation within the Congress?
For now, the leaders have kept their cards close to their chest—but the political buzz in Mysuru is unmistakable.
