Rahul has his way

H Siddaramaiah's election as the Karnataka Legislature Party (CLP) leader by secret ballot was the idea mooted by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. All along, Rahul Gandhi has been insisting that no leader should be foisted from above but must be popularly elected. Rahul has been suggesting that those holding posts in the District Congress Committees (DCCs) must also similarly prove their wider acceptability, instead of being merely nominated by the Congress High Command. If this principle gets accepted, the partymen believe that problems of groupism would be resolved. The most acceptable leader will come to hold the post and thereby he would also inspire confidence among his peers. The problem with Siddaramaiah is that he is considered a rank outsider. A product of the anti-Congress politics, he came from the Janata Dal (Secular) where he was once a close confidant of H D Deve Gowda. The dyed-in-wool Congressmen like B Janardhan Poojary, B K Hariprasad, S M Krishna and M Veerappa Moily and a host of others find it difficult to accept Siddaramaiah as the new Karnataka Chief Minister because of the outsider tag. But the principle of Rahul Gandhi has certainly the potential to put an end to group politics in the Congress.