Video: Karnataka Youth Congress Leaders Clash, Come To Blows During Meet
The confrontation reportedly broke out between supporters of Karnataka State Youth Congress president HS Manjunath and Youth Congress vice president HR Deepika Reddy after tensions escalated over organisational decisions and internal power struggles.
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Videos emerging from the Karnataka Youth Congress office showed dramatic scenes of party workers heckling each other, holding collars and nearly coming to blows during a heated executive committee meeting, exposing deepening factionalism within the organisation.
The confrontation reportedly broke out between supporters of Karnataka State Youth Congress president HS Manjunath and Youth Congress vice president HR Deepika Reddy after tensions escalated over organisational decisions and internal power struggles.
The positions of Deepika Reddy and a few other office-bearers had recently been kept "on hold" by the state leadership for allegedly failing to perform duties assigned to them. However, Deepika Reddy has strongly disputed the allegations and claimed she was being deliberately targeted and subjected to discriminatory treatment within the organisation.
The situation spiralled during the meeting when Deepika Reddy and her supporters questioned the action taken against them, leading to verbal clashes that soon turned physical, with workers from both factions aggressively confronting each other inside the office premises.
In a sharply worded statement issued after the incident, Deepika Reddy strongly condemned HS Manjunath, accusing him of attempting to illegally withhold her position and responsibilities out of "personal vendetta and political insecurity."
Calling the move "authoritarian, unconstitutional and vindictive," she alleged that the action was aimed at silencing a woman leader who had democratically challenged the state president during the Youth Congress elections.
Deepika Reddy further accused the Karnataka Youth Congress leadership of fostering a hostile environment for women leaders. She alleged that women who challenged entrenched male leadership were being politically targeted, isolated and harassed.
According to her statement, the organisation under HS Manjunath's leadership had become increasingly "unsafe and toxic" for women leaders. She claimed that instead of uniting the organisation after the elections, the state president had indulged in "vindictive scheming and sustained mental harassment" against her and others who opposed him politically.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Youth Congress president Manjunath Gowda dismissed allegations of serious factionalism and downplayed the altercation as a minor disagreement.
"We have not suspended them from their positions. Since they had not completed the work assigned to them, we had only kept them on hold. During the discussion, there was some confusion, following which a minor scuffle broke out among the youth. Other than that, there has been no major fight," he said.
Manjunath further stated that footage of those who behaved inappropriately during the meeting had been recorded and would be submitted to the PCC leadership, the Congress national president and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar along with full details of the incident.
"There are occasionally small clashes within the Youth Congress, but nothing major. It is similar to disagreements between siblings. Everyone here has mutual trust and affection for one another," he added.
The incident has once exposed growing internal tensions within the Karnataka Youth Congress, with the public confrontation now threatening to escalate into a larger political embarrassment for the ruling Congress in the state.
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Karnataka State Youth Congress, HS Manjunath, Deepika Reddy