In Karnataka elections, Congress veteran Kharge faces dynasty problems of his own

Gautham Machaiah

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has for long remained an unassailable leader of Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district in North Karnataka.  But his attempts to promote his son Priyank at the cost of other long-serving party men threatens to erode his position and even derail his chief ministerial ambitions.

Kharge, who has not tasted a single electoral defeat, has won 11 consecutive elections since 1972. In 2008, following delimitation, the Gurmitkal reserved constituency, from where he had won eight times in a row, was declared a general seat. This forced him to shift to Chittapur (SC), where he again continued his winning streak.  Gurmitkal is now part of the new Yadgir district.

In 2009, he quit his assembly seat to successfully contest the Lok Sabha elections and went on to become a Union minister. In 2014, he braved the Modi wave to be elected to Parliament for the second time and was handpicked by Sonia Gandhi for the Congress floor leader’s post in the lower house.

Trouble began when Kharge decided to field his son from the Chittapur seat that he had vacated, much to the chagrin of other Congress aspirants. The by-election results came as a rude shock with Priyank losing the seat to BJP. For the first time in nearly four decades, the Kharge legacy was being questioned.

However, Priyank managed to wrest the seat during the 2014 general elections to the state assembly, and this time the senior Kharge had bigger plans for his son. During a mid-term reshuffle, Priyank, a rank junior, was inducted as minister of state in Karnataka and was quickly promoted to cabinet rank, ignoring the claims of seniors including Mallikaya Guttedar, a six-time MLA from Afzalpur in Kalaburagi.

To Priyank’s credit, his performance as IT/BT and tourism minister received appreciation from all quarters, including his critics. Start-ups received a fillip, while Bengaluru got a logo of its own on the lines of Amsterdam. In a short span, Priyank left a mark on his department.

Now, with elections being announced, the chink in the Congress' armour is only growing wider. While the detractors are ganging up against Kharge, a disappointed Guttedar has quit the party to contest on a BJP ticket. The exit of a strongman like Guttedar comes as blow to the Congress, especially with the passing away of two of its stalwarts from the region, former chief minister N Dharam Singh and senior Muslim leader Qamarul Islam.

But why are the results of one district crucial? It is no secret that Kharge has been harbouring a desire to become the chief minister for quite some time and should such an eventuality present itself after the elections, his bargaining power could be severely compromised if his son loses his seat or if the BJP surges ahead in his home district.

Although incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah is likely to continue in the event of a comfortable Congress win, a hung assembly will open new vistas for people like Kharge.

If former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) emerges kingmaker and decides to support the Congress, he will be looking for alternatives to Siddaramaiah, with whom he shares an uneasy relationship. Being a respected Dalit leader, Kharge stands a good chance, but for that, he should first douse the fire raging in his backyard before it consumes him.

(The author is a political commentator and a senior journalist)

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