Legislature party will decide on CM post Karnataka elections 2018: Congress PCC chief

Bengaluru: Ruling out any differences about leadership within the party ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls, Karnataka PCC president G Parameshwara on Saturday said the legislature party will decide on the Chief Minister, post the election results.

"Our first goal whether it is chief minister or me is to cross 113 (assembly seats) mark. After that there is always a convention in the Congress party that legislature party selects its leader- who will contest, who will get selected (as leader) no one knows as of now...." Parameshwara said in response to a question about the chief ministerial candidate.

Speaking to reporters on completing seven years in office as the Pradesh Congress Committee chief, he said "There is no other short cut method for it..."

Parameshwara, however, declined to comment on Siddaramaiah's repeated claims that he will be the next chief minister.

Aiming to retain power in Karnataka, one among Congress party's last surviving bastions in the country, the party leadership has announced that Siddaramaiah will lead the party during the elections.

Noting that the Congress leadership has "already announced" that Siddaramaiah will lead the party during the elections, Parameshwara said, "we have all agreed to their decision and are working together towards retaining the power once again."

Rejecting any differences within the party about going to elections under Siddaramaiah's leadership, he said, "our confidence of regaining power comes from the programmes that we have given to the people of the state."

Asked about Congress party's target for the upcoming elections, he said, "when we say we will form the government on our own, we will obviously have to cross 113 seats mark (out of 224)."

He also ruled out the possibility of a coalition government.

Congress is conducting surveys to collect data to help it select candidates and decide strategy for the 2018 assembly polls.

"We have not started the process of selection of candidates yet, but we are now looking at individual constituencies where we can win or loose. We are analyzing each of the 224 constituencies," he said.

Strongly backing minister K J George who has been booked by CBI over the mysterious death of a police official, Parameshwara said there is no reason for him to resign.

"Let CBI investigate, we don't have any problem...Let them investigate on the basis of the merit and let the truth come out. There is no reason for George to resign, this is our party's decision and also the decision of the government," he said.

Hitting out at the BJP for demanding George's resignation, the KPCC President said their demand is not based on facts, but with political mindset.

"They are not concerned about the merit of the case or direction of the court. They are only concerned about the political gain they can get out of it," he added.

The state assembly polls are due next year.