Bengaluru: Congress General Secretary in- charge K C Venugopal today warned the partymen against going to the media with grievances and pressed for unity within the partys state unit ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls.

He assured partymen that the decision on new Karnataka Pradesh Congress chief will be taken before this month end, but was non-committal to a question whether the 2018 elections will be under Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs leadership.

"Taking view of the importance of the election we are of the opinion that no leader should issue any statement against the leadership, against the party in the future," Venugopal told reporters here.

He said "if there are grievances, let them report it to the PCC or they can report it to AICC office bearers. We are here to address the grievances...going before the media  with grievances will not be tolerated."

Noting that the Karnataka assembly elections next year was "crucial" for the party, Venugopal called on the partymen to be united with only one mantra- "retain power in Karnataka and to defeat BJPs malicious campaign."

Venugopals comment comes in the wake of a few veteran  leaders, including H Vishwanath and Janardhana Poojary openly criticising the partys state leadership.

There was also resentment among the party seniors against the Chief Minister and KPCC chief over being "sidelined".

Venugopal for the last four days has held series of meetings with heads of all district units, district in-charge  ministers, MLAs and leaders in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Pradesh Congress Committee G Parameshwara, which he termed as "brain storming session".

During the meetings various party issues had been discussed and a message has been given to them to ensure unity for retaining power in the 2018 assembly polls, he said.  

Accepting that there were some differences within the party, he said "if the party is united, if the workers are  united, definitely people will go along with us. That is the  message to workers and leaders of the party."    

Venugopal also said that district in-charge ministers and MLAs had been asked to spend more time in respective districts and constituencies and ensure that programmes of the government reach the people.

Asserting that the Congress would come back to power in  Karnataka because of "lot of" people-friendly programmes of  the state government, he said "we can challenge any  government, we can challenge BJP across the country...

"We are ready for an open debate with the BJP over the priority we have given to common people, downtrodden and weaker sections," he said.    

Taking a dig at the BJPs state-wide tour during which its leaders are visiting houses of Dalits, Venugopal termed it as a "drama", citing incidents of "atrocities" against Dalits  in BJP ruled states.

"People will understand their new found love towards Dalits," he added.

Siddaramaiah said there were some minor differences  within some units of the party. "We have tried to address them. We will face the election together and be victorious in the 2018 polls."

Co-ordination committees had been formed at few districts where there are issues that need to be resolved, he added.