The  high intensity political drama in Karnataka, which saw one MLA hospitalized and another seeing an FIR against him ( after suspension), continues to worry the Congress. After the MLAs came to blows at the Eagleton resort ,where party legislators have been put up to stave off the BJP’s alleged poaching attempts questions are being raised within the party.

Late on Saturday night, Kampi MLA JN Ganesh allegedly hit Vijayanagara MLA Anand Singh on his head with a liquor bottle after a heated argument reportedly over Ganesh wanting to defect to the BJP.

Though the Congress realises that it at least needs to get its story straight before multiple party leaders point fingers at each other. Although Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara both denied the news, another senior leader claimed that Anand was admitted to hospital with chest pain and another claiming that the argument was over business deals as the two MLAs were from the same district.

To address this very issue and keeping the unity intact , former Karnataka chief minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah held a meeting of MLAs on Monday in Bengaluru. He had called for the meeting after reports of the supposed brawl at the resort. The party had also issued notices to four of its MLAs on Sunday, asking why action should not be taken against them under the anti-defection law for not attending the CLP meeting on Friday, which was called to ensure that the Congress flock was intact amid reports that a few had switched camps to the BJP.

Here, what gets highlighted is former Karnataka chief minister and current Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda’s statement on Siddaramaiah: “Siddaramaiah, who is pretending to be a peacemaker in the JD(S)-Congress coalition, has also been trying to destabilise the government. The current political drama has led to instability in state politics. People don’t know what the chief minister is doing, and the development of the state is at stake. However, the situation is in favour of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.”

“Congress leaders are fighting among themselves, and Kumaraswamy is not in a position to perform his duties. In fact, Siddaramaiah is not allowing the chief minister to perform well,” Gowda had said.

With this, he put in words what no other political leader has so far on the crisis in Karnataka. It is no secret that Siddaramaiah has been bitter since losing not only the chief minister’s seat, but also his constituency in the May 2018 Assembly elections. Add to that his displeasure over the Congress ceding more power to the JD(S) than he would have preferred, it remains an open secret in the state that Kumaraswamy’s repeated breakdowns are a result of Siddaramaiah’s interference in the functioning of the government and use of his clout to ensure that the chief minister is undermined.

Besides, Siddaramaiah’s discontent with the Congress-JD(S) tie-up and his hostility towards Kumaraswamy — starting with criticising the JD(S) leader for presenting a full-fledged budget after assuming office to expressing doubts about how long the coalition government would survive in Karnataka — goes back to the Congress leader’s days in the JD(S), where he felt that JD(S) chief and former prime minister Deve Gowda did not give him his due.

So as  congress leaders continue to make allegations that Siddaramaiah is rocking the Congress – JDS boat , voices in the party are hoping that Congress President Rahul Gandhi will take note and act before the former Chief Minister’s actions cause further embarrasment to the alliance.