Chikmagalur model sparks a revival in Congress

CHIKMAGALUR: Having failed to checkmate the BJP state government on the issue of corruption, the Congress party was certainly in a spot of bother. Here is how the party attempted to rejuvenate itself in the form of a campaign titled “Congress Nadige Janara Kadege”, in a model that it implemented in Chikmagalur.The rejection of Governor H R Bhardwaj’s proposal to recommend President’s rule in Karnataka proved to be a double whammy for it. With state Congress leaders throwing up their hands in despair at Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa surviving the Oppositions’ onslaught effectively, a strategy to revitalise the Congress in Karnataka was the need of the hour.District Congress committee president M L Murthy who was confronted with scathing attacks at a party workers’ introspection meeting following the party’s debacle in the ZP elections, hit upon a plan to rejuvenate the party. He was impressed with party workers criticising their higher-ups for failing to establish proper coordination between them and the leaders.Simultaneously in March, the enrolment drive for the district Youth Congress Committee commenced, which coincided with the party organisational elections.Congress leaders, in an attempt to enthuse workers, launched a campaign to move to villages and panchayats to meet them and hear their grievances.Former Union minister D K Taradevi, former state minister Jayaprakash Hegde, Leader of the Opposition in the Council Motamma, DCC president M L Murthy, former Council chairman B L Shankar, former MLA K B Mallikarjun, S M Nagaraj, B R Neelakanthappa, T V Shivashankarappa, B B Ningaiah, MLC Gayatri Shanthe Gowda were entrusted with conducting the campaign in Aldur, Koppa, N R Pura, Kalasa, Chikmagalur, Mudigere, Kadur, Birur, Tarikere and Ajjampur blocks respectively.This impressed KPCC president G Parameshwar who visited Chikmagalur on April 30 to assess the Youth Congress membership drive, and promised to adopt it as a model to be implemented in other districts too. Accordingly, the state Congress launched the campaign “Congress Nadige, Janara Balige” throughout the state on June 15.KPCC spokesperson B L Shankar gave the name for this campaign as wel