Mysuru: Congress is a party that represents people of all communities, castes and religions and remains committed to social justice, secularism and equality, said former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday.Speaking at a programme in Mysuru where Beerihundi Basavanna took charge as Mysuru District Congress Committee president, Siddaramaiah urged the new leadership to build on the organisational work of outgoing president BJ Vijaykumar and unite party leaders and workers without discrimination. He expressed appreciation for Vijay Kumar, who has been involved in the district party organisation for 13 years.Emphasising Congress’s contribution to nation-building, he said the party had played a significant role in the freedom struggle and, after Independence, helped lay the foundation for the country’s development through investments in education, irrigation, industry, power and road infrastructure.Beerihundi Basavanna, a former zilla panchayat member, is from the Kuruba community. Siddaramaiah had lobbied for for him to get the post.Siddaramaiah said political equality alone was not sufficient, and stressed the need for economic and social empowerment of women, the poor, Dalits, backward classes and minorities to achieve genuine equality and eliminate caste discrimination. Recalling former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s initiatives to strengthen women’s representation in local self-govt institutions, he said Congress had consistently worked to expand political participation and representation. Referring to govt’s welfare programmes, Siddaramaiah urged party workers to take their benefits and the Congress ideology to every household. He said the party must begin grassroots mobilisation ahead of the gram panchayat, taluk panchayat and zilla panchayat elections, followed by the 2028 assembly and 2029 Lok Sabha polls.Calling upon the Karnataka Congress cadre to work for victory in all 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in 2029, he said the party should strive to make Rahul Gandhi Prime Minister. Congress has a strong organisational base in Mysuru district, which had contributed significantly to the party coming to power twice in Karnataka, he stated.Mysuru district minister Yathindra Siddaramaiah, MLA K Venkatesh and MLC K Shivakumar were present.Ex-ministers give event a missFormer ministers HC Mahadevappa and Tanveer Sait, who is also KPCC working president, stayed away from the event, exposing the differences among the top functionaries of the party in the district. Mahadevappa and Sait were upset with Siddaramaiah, as they were overlooked for the minister’s post in the Shivakumar govt, and blamed Siddaramaiah, saying he did not argue their case but pushed his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah for the minister’s post. K Venkatesh, who was also upset with Siddaramaiah, however, attended the meeting.
