Senior Congress leader warns state leaders against making statements inconsistent with party ideology

Congress General Secretary (Organization) KC Venugopal | Photo credit: File photo

The Congress central leaders are learned to have taken serious exception to some state leaders, including party officials and ministers, and made statements that embarrass the government, besides providing fodder for the opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) to attack the government.

Sources said Congress general secretary (organization) KC Venugopal and Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala met more than a dozen ministers on Wednesday and asked them to speak in public responsibly and in line with the party’s ideology. “Ministers have been given strict instructions to watch what they say in public. The elections are only about a year and a half away and the party does not want to be distracted by unnecessary statements that might embarrass the government,” sources said.

Over the past month, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi has been caught in a mouthful while KPCC president BK Hariprasad has made critical remarks about the government. It was also rumored that Mr. Hariprasad was upset that he was not invited to the celebrations of Mr. Shivakumar’s 100 days in office recently.

Meanwhile, the DK Shivakumar-led government announced that official spokespersons would offer the views of the government on a daily basis, and following the Cabinet’s decision to appoint eight ministers as official spokespersons, the Deputy Chief Minister said that no other voice or opinions would be considered official.

Sources said several party leaders and ministers criticized their party and government colleagues who often aired their views, embarrassing the party. “The bigger idea is that if there are differences of opinion on issues, they could be raised internally in the relevant party forums instead of being made public. Central leaders insisted that efforts should be made to bring the party back to power in Karnataka in 2028. Ministers were asked to align their statements with the party’s ideology and were warned that the party could call if they continued in his antics.”

Female representative

Meanwhile, it was learned that the central leaders were also discussing the appointment of a woman as the district congress committee president as the party came under fire for fielding an all-male presidential team in the list of 35 recently appointed DCC presidents. There is a possibility of appointing a woman to one of the DCCs, sources said. “Expansion of the cabinet to fill the remaining two cabinet beds, including one for a woman, was also discussed,” the sources said.

Published – 17 Sep 2026 21:59 IST