AICC to appoint new in-charge for Karnataka as KC Venugopal seeks to focus full time on organisation

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is expected to appoint a full-time general secretary in-charge of the Congress affairs in Karnataka in deference to a request from incumbent KC Venugopal.

The change, however, has nothing to do with the electoral performance of the Congress in the December 5 bypolls, the campaigning for which was handled by the State Congress leaders led by former chief minister Siddaramaiah.

Venugopal, a former Union Minister, is currently AICC General Secretary in charge of organisational responsibilities pan India. He is handling Karnataka only as an additional responsibility, he clarified to ET.


There have been reports doing the rounds in the media that Venugopal will focus on the Assembly elections in his home state of Kerala, due in the summer of 2021. Venugopal dismissed these stories as “ridiculous.”

Venugopal said he made a request to the Congress president last month to appoint a full-time in-charge for the Congress affairs in Karnataka. The party, he added, will decide it in due course.

It may be recalled that after the BJP walked away with 12 of 15 Assembly seats it contested, Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao quit their positions on Monday, owning up responsibility for the poor show. AICC president Sonia Gandhi is expected to reorganise the party state unit and reassign the responsibilities, according to party sources.

The party is expected to rope in a few senior leaders including former minister and Vokkaliga strongman DK Shivakumar and former minister MB Patil, a Lingayat leader in North Karnataka region, among the other leaders, the sources added.