BENGALURU: With allegations of corruption swirling and lingering internal dissent forcing CM Siddaramaiah to convene a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Thursday to assuage ruffled feathers, the Congress high command has now scheduled two crucial meetings in the national capital on August 2.

The focus of these meetings will be on devising measures to ensure the stability of the state government and restore its clean image.A meeting with senior officials from Karnataka will be held with AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi participating.

A key topic that will come up for discussion will be the establishment of a coordination committee that will serve as a bridge between the government and the party.

The primary responsibilities of the committee will include addressing any dissension within the party while overseeing the government's policies.Kharge and Rahul will hold a separate meeting of ministers from the state.

The main grouse of lawmakers is that some ministers are inaccessible.

The central leadership is likely to ask them to mind their public conduct and take all stakeholders into confidence before making significant decisions."We are happy that the party leadership responded to our concerns.

While it is important to build a good public perception of the government, the conduct of a few ministers, as we observed, could be bad optics for the government.

And that would have put us in a difficult situation ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

We are happy that we alerted the party before the situation got out of hand," said Aland MLA BR Patil, who had written to the CM urging him to call the CLP meeting.

About 30 MLAs had signed the letter.The Congress high command is conscious of the ongoing perception war against the opposition, as a negative image could seriously dent the party's winning prospects in the 2024 parliamentary polls.

The Congress won the recent assembly polls by building perceptions, focusing on issues like the 40% commission issue and Lingayat leaders like BS Yediyurappa being sidelined within the saffron party.

The Congress now faces a similar challenge ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

If no efforts are made to address these issues, the BJP could well exploit it during the poll campaign, many feel."The Congress built a wrong perception against our party and misled voters...

Now, it has earned a bad image even before the government has completed two months in office.

We will take these issues to the people," said senior BJP legislator CN Ashwath Narayan.However, senior Congress functionaries are unfazed.

"If there is any perception about our government, it is a positive one as the five guarantee schemes have been well-received by the people.

The New Delhi meeting is called to prepare the party for the Lok Sabha polls," said KPCC working president Saleem Ahmed.