Siddaramaiah meets Rahul Gandhi in Delhi

New Delhi/Bengaluru: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and discussed several issues, including appointment of new state party president and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader.

Siddaramaiah had stepped down as the CLP leader while Dinesh Gundu Rao had resigned as state Congress president on December 9 after the party’s poor performance in the assembly bypolls at 15 places.

“We discussed about the party’s situation in Karnataka, change of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and CLP leader. We also discussed about the need to strengthen the party in the state,” Siddaramaiah told reporters after the meeting.

State Congress leaders including Appaji Nadagouda, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Bheema Naik and Raghavendra Itnal were also present in the meeting.

Siddaramaiah on January 14 held first round of discussion with the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi. He also discussed about the matter with the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer Ahmed Patel, former Union Minister A K Antony as well as K C Venugopal, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka.

Names that are doing rounds for the post of CLP leader include H K Patil and former speaker K R Ramesh Kumar whereas D K Shivakumar and K H Muniyappa are the top contenders for the state party chief’s post.