Despite securing a landslide victory in Karnataka, the Congress party now faces a major hurdle in choosing a chief ministerial candidate as two senior leaders, veteran Siddaramaiah and trouble-shooter DK Shivakumar, are both vying for the post.
The party has called a meeting on May 14 to discuss government formation and select a leader for the state. Observers will be speaking to newly-elected MLAs, and Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also meet Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to discuss the chief ministerial position.
The political career of the two leaders
D K Shivakumar: He is the incumbent MLA from Kanakapura, and the state Congress president. He contested against BJP's R Ashoka, the incumbent Revenue Minister, and Janata Dal (Secular) leader B Nagaraju, his nearest rival in the polls, who he defeated by a margin of more than 1,22,392 votes.
Read: Congress performance gives party cadre reasons to cheer in three upcoming direct fights with BJP
Shivakumar has been elected a legislator eight times and has held significant ministerial positions in Congress-led state governments. During the JD (S)-Congress government, which collapsed in 2019, he served as the Minister of Irrigation. Previously, he had served as the Minister of Energy under the Siddaramaiah government. On 2 July 2020, the senior leader officially took charge as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, succeeding Dinesh Gundu Rao.
The 60-year-old is a close confidant of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. With a net worth around Rs 1,400 crore (declared prior to these assembly elections), he is one of the richest politicians. While filing his nomination for the 2018 elections, he had declared total assets of Rs 840 crore.
Shivakumar is a skilled strategist and is known as the Congress' troubleshooter in times of crisis. He is recognised as having played a vital role in the formation of the Congress-JD (S) coalition government in Karnataka after the 2018 elections.
In September 2019, the Enforcement Directorate arrested the Kanakapura legislator following multiple rounds of questioning on charges of income tax evasion and hawala transactions running into crores.
Siddaramaiah: The former Chief Minister contested what may be his last election from the Varuna constituency, where his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah was elected in the previous assembly polls in 2018. He was pitted against V Somanna, the BJP's Housing Minister. He defeated Somanna by more than 46,163 votes. Previously, Siddaramaiah had contested from the Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru district, where he had won as an MLA five times and lost twice.
He started his political career in 1983 by winning from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal party ticket, and then joined the Janata Party, which merged with other parties to become the Janata Dal in 1988.
After the Janata Dal split into two factions, he joined the Janata Dal (Secular), headed by Deve Gowda, and became the president of the party's state unit. However, he was expelled from the party in 2005, when Deve Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy was gaining prominence.
Siddaramaiah then joined the Congress in 2006, along with his supporters. He became the Leader of Opposition after winning in 2008, and became Chief Minister in 2013. He is now a nine-time MLA.
In 2019, when 17 MLAs resigned, leading to the fall of the Congress-JD (S) coalition government, Siddaramaiah took charge of the by-elections in Karnataka.
The by-polls were held on December 5, 2019, for 15 assembly seats, and Siddaramaiah was confident he would win 12 of those. But Congress managed to win only two seats, and the JD (S) none. The loss was a major setback for him, and differences arose among party members over his leadership.
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