The cold war between the KPCC President Dr G Paramaeshwara and chief Minister Siddaramaiah  is now out in the open with the Karnataka state President taking out a separate rally . The fight at the top is moving down as  the supporters of both the factions are fighting staking claims on several seats.

A Week after chief minister Chief Minister Siddaramaiah started his NavaKarnataka Yatra in the state to highlight the achievements of his government , the KPCC President feels he has been sidelined by the Chief Minister has embarked on another rally across the state from Mulbagal last week.

Sources say the two Congress leaders are not even on taking terms with each other .  The Congress High command in an effort to bring truce between the two  has worked out a formula by splitting their role in state politics. While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been given the role of managing the campaign to the seats where the party has sitting MLA’s in the state , the KPCC President has been given the role of supervising the seats where the party lost elections last time. The objective was to ensure that they don’t clash with each other over ticket distribution and seats allocation.

However given that intelligence reports indicate anti-incumbency in many seats , several sitting MLA;s including ministers are keen to choose safer seats where the party lost in previous elections by narrow margins.

While chief minister Siddaramaiah  is planning to move to  Chamundeswari assembly constituency leaving his seat  Varuna seat for his son Yathindra to make his debut in 2018 polls.  Even this  move was countered by KPCC President who maintains the ‘One Family One Ticket’ formula will be enforced in the state.

Siddaramaiah’s closest aide  and  PWD minister  H C Mahadevappa  has kicked off another storm by bringing the differences in the open. H C Mahadevappa is looking for a safe option by moving to Bengaluru’s C V Raman Nagar constituency deserting  his Holenarsipura constituency where the voters mood is believed to be strongly against him.

His move to shift to Bengaluru city sparked off clashes in Congress workers . H C Mahadevappa  supporters put up posters and banners in C V Raman Nagar assembly seat , which were torn down by the rival faction. The move triggerd a retaliation where some congress workers protested against their own party’s MLA candidate  P Ramesh on the streets of Bengaluru. Supporters of P Ramesh another prominent Dalit leader who lost in 2013 by a very small margin of 4000+ votes feel that the party will lose the seat if Mahadevappa is made the candidate. A corporator from the area on condition of anonymity said,” It’s a cosmopolitan constituency. Mahadevappa is an outsider while P Ramesh has groomed the constituency for last 5 years. If the change is made this time again BJP will win the seat”. The story is similar in few other constituencies of the city where  Congress Infighting is  out in the open .