Bajrang Dal In Cong Election Manifesto: Handiwork Of Kanugolu, Surjewala

There is apparently a lot of resentment against AICC in charge for Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala among state Congress leaders for the manner in which he is handling ongoing assembly elections. Party leaders are particularly livid with him for messing up with the election manifesto. Across the board, everyone is holding him and election strategist, Sunil Kanugolu, responsible for the big time “Bajrang Dal” goof up — that is putting an incendiary item in the manifesto and handing the BJP, an electoral issue.  “The Congress has gifted this election on a platter to PM Modi. This Bajrang Dal was not an input of the manifesto committee. In fact the panel headed by Dr G Parameshwara and members such as Madhu Bangarappa and Prof Radhakrishna had nothing to do with it. These words were added by Surjewala and Kanugolu perhaps with a view to give a handle to the BJP,” said a former Congress CM. That is why former Union Minister M Veerappa Moily clarified that there was no proposal to ban the Bajrang Dal. “No one in the Congress trusts Kanugolu as he has a history of working with the BJP. In fact Surjewala and Kanugolu so tightly control every one that all leaders are quite fed up. This was an election we were winning hands down. Now in the last week, our leaders are rushing to temples,” said a close Rahul Gandhi aide. To recover some lost ground D K Shivakumar even visited a Hanuman temple.