Maharashtra Governor and former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna will go to New Delhi on December 9 to lobby his way back to active politics in Karnataka, sources told rediff.com on Friday.

They said if things go well, the high command may announce his name as the Karnataka state Congress chief on the same day he is in Delhi. While this is what the Krishna followers have to say, his opponents within the Congress say no such decision will be taken until the Gujarat elections are over.

The Krishna lobby is growing with every passing day. Several supporters like D K Shivakumar have already made trips to New Delhi to convince the party bosses to bring the former chief minister back to mainstream politics.

Krishna's biggest rival within the Congress is Mallikarjun Kharge. He does not want to lose the race to Krishna this time and will do anything to keep Krishna away from Karnataka. Kharge had lost the race to Krishna to become the chief minister in 1999.

Kharge when questioned about Krishna looked puzzled and shot back, "I have only read about it in the media."

He said he was upset over reports that Krishna was being brought back to counter Janata Dal (Secular) chief H D Deve Gowda who had control over a majority of the Vokkaliga community vote bank. Kharge said the Congress was never a party that believed in caste politics.