Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar's recent statement that he was willing to sacrifice the chief minister’s post if party president Mallikarjun M Kharge threw his hat in the ring has caused a flutter.
No one in the party has been able to figure out what triggered Shivakumar’s statement, apart from the rather obvious bid to checkmate his rival and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah for the coveted slot.
It’s been almost a week now since the statement and the Central and state leadership has been preoccupied with the jugglery of awarding tickets to candidates. The utterances of Shivakumar, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, have not only baffled the rank and file in the party, they have also upset Siddaramaiah and his followers.
According to Congress sources, Siddaramaiah has indicated he will reconsider contesting the assembly elections scheduled on May 10 if statements on the CM’s post continue to surface even after a warning from the party high command to desist.
Siddaramaiah’s stand
“Let there be clarity before the elections on who is the chief ministerial candidate. If the high command wants Kharge, I have no objection. I will campaign for the party, but not contest the polls. The party leadership has asked all to cooperate, which I am doing,” Siddaramaiah is said to have told some party leaders.
Siddaramaiah, who was in New Delhi to finalise the tickets for 58 remaining seats (tickets for 166 of the 224 seats in the assembly have already been announced) met party leader Rahul Gandhi on April 11 and discussed the leadership controversy and other issues.
Sources said Siddaramaiah, known for his obdurate actions at times, is capable of taking a tough stand not to contest the elections if he is disregarded.
“If he takes that step, at least 25 to 30 Congress candidates will follow him as they have been winning in their respective constituencies because of Siddaramaiah and his Kuruba (shepherd) community votes. If such confusing statements are made with an eye on having another coalition government, why should he break his head to get 80 to 90 seats? That is Siddaramaiah's stand,” a party leader said.
In June 2012, Siddaramaiah resigned as leader of the opposition in the assembly, miffed over not being consulted about giving four tickets in the legislative council elections. He withdrew his resignation after then All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi's intervention.
In December 2019, he resigned from the same post after the Congress won only two seats in assembly by-polls to 15 seats.
“Siddaramaiah quit the Janata Dal (Secular) as he was denied the CM's post twice. He will not tolerate being treated shoddily,” sources said.
During an interaction with the media in Davanagere on April 8, Shivakumar said Kharge was his leader and AICC chief.
“I love to work under him (Kharge),” the KPCC chief said in response to a query on whether he would sacrifice the top post if Kharge was a contender.
The issue brought to the fore once again the matter of a Dalit CM for Karnataka and rankled Siddaramaiah, who has publicly said he is seeking a second term as CM and this will be his last foray into electoral politics.
“Why not a Dalit as CM, with either the Lingayats or Vokkaligas, backward classes and two Brahmins having occupied the post in the past? However, Kharge is too senior now to come back as Karnataka CM as his task is cut out as the AICC President. It's about winning states for the road to Delhi now,'' sources close to Kharge said.
Kharge’s missed chances
Kharge, 80, has missed the CM’s post thrice. In 1999, when the Congress returned to power with a good majority, Kharge was among the contenders for the CM post along with SM Krishna, who was the KPCC president.
“Krishna himself drove to Kharge's house at 1 am and requested him to give him (Krishna) a chance, saying age was on Kharge's side,'' sources said. Kharge is10 years younger than Krishna.
In 2004, when Karnataka got a fractured mandate in the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda insisted that N Dharam Singh become the CM. In 2013, when the Congress won a clear majority, Kharge was pipped to the post by Siddaramaiah.
The other contender for the CM's post from the Dalit community is G Parameshwara, a former deputy CM. Parameshwara has made no bones about the caste bias when it comes to picking the CM candidate.
“B Basavalingappa missed the chief ministerial post and so did KH Ranganath. My elder brother Kharge also could not become the CM. I missed it thrice. Somehow, after much dilemma, they made me the deputy CM,” Parameshwara said in February 2019.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had stopped taking jibes against each over the CM’s post after Rahul Gandhi told both of them not to issue statements on the Congress CM candidate.
Sources close to Shivakumar maintained that his statement on Kharge was made on the spur of the moment, as a reply to a query. But it has once again revived the rift between him and Siddaramaiah.
In October 2018, Shivakumar surprisingly apologised on behalf of the Siddaramaiah government for supporting the Lingayats’ demand for a separate religious identity. Ahead of the by-polls to five seats, Shivakumar said at a Lingayat mutt that no government should interfere in caste, religious or culture related issues.
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