The political storm in the Karnataka Congress seems to have acquired a life of its own. Triggered by a demand by Ramanagara MLA Iqbal Hussain, who claimed that about a hundred party MLAs wanted Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar (DKS) to replace Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the crisis has acquired a dimension that neither DKS nor Siddaramaiah may have any control over. DKS has already visited New Delhi twice over the last week, arriving soon after Siddaramaiah declared he'd be at the helm for a full term.
Interestingly, after arriving from New Delhi - his first trip to the city as Deputy Chief Minister - Shivakumar was in no mood to respond to Siddaramaiah's assertion about serving as Chief Minister for the remaining term. DKS even maintained that he had been given a spiritual lesson, or 'deekshe', by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. "I have accepted it, and I have accepted it happily", he said.
The Tussle
Factionalism in Karnataka has reached an unsustainable limit. Over the weekend, Siddaramiah refused to mention Shivakumar at Sadhana Samavesha, a party convention organised in Mysuru to highlight the Congress government's achievements, all because DKS left for Bengaluru. It was strange that the Chief Minister could get away with his churlish conduct in the presence of AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge. As for DKS, he did his own bit at the event by speaking about the five guarantees of the Congress. He said, "Our party is like a temple. See our good work and bless us in 2028, too."
Last week, Siddaramaiah asserted that DKS did not enjoy the support of 100 MLAs, as was claimed. This led DKS to state defensively, "I am the Karnataka Congress President. I do what the party wants me to. The CM has answered your questions."
The Focus On PCC Chief Post
Now, it almost seems as if DKS had to battle to retain his position as Karnataka PCC President, a post he has held since even before the Congress swept to power in May 2023. Siddaramaiah has effectively turned the tables on DKS, reshaping the battle from one of "changing the Chief Minister" to "changing the PCC chief". In fact, Siddaramaiah and his loyalists have already begun pressuring the Congress top brass to remove DKS as president of the Karnataka unit of the Congress, and to do so before local body polls.
Siddaramiah's strategy of turning the focus on the PCC post paid off such that DKS instantly sobered down. "It's his personal statement," the latter said about Siddaramaiah's claim of keeping the chief ministerial post for a full term. "As the party president, it's my responsibility to organise the party. My objective is to protect the interests of the party and government. I'm there only if the party is there. I cease to exist otherwise," he said.
Why DKS Is Lying Low
What the precise reason is for DKS to play down his hand, at least for now, one may never know. Is it because the Congress high command has decided to steer clear of the tussle in the state? Rahul Gandhi has refused to meet both Siddaramaiah and DKS, even as the two camped in Delhi for a few days. This certainly helped cool off the power struggle. Both the leaders had to be content with meeting only the Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, to finalise appointments for boards and corporations. It is, of course, another matter that Surjewala is in Bengaluru almost every alternate week to "assess" the mood of the MLAs and advise the Siddaramaiah government. Separately, Shivakumar also met Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at her residence, though he remains tight-lipped about the discussions.
The Lok Sabha Election
DKS, having few takers for his claim, has perhaps accepted that he has no option but to stand by and support Siddaramaiah. Party sources say it may also have something to do with the Congress's disastrous performance in the Vokkaliga belt in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and DKS's failure to deliver on 11 Vokkaliga Lok Sabha seats, such as Tumkur, Mysore, Chitradurga, Kolar, Mandya, and Chikballapur. A BJP-JD (S) alliance picked up 19 of the 28 such seats in the state, and DKS's own brother, D.K. Suresh, was defeated in the Lok Sabha polls.
"If the Congress had done well in the Lok Sabha polls, DKS could have made a case for being made Chief Minister. He can't demand to be rewarded on the basis of state assembly elections that were held two years ago, in which the Congress swept the state. Besides, he is not even recognised as a tall leader of the Vokkaligas, as that belt voted for the BJP in the May 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It clearly went against him," points out Congress veteran L.N.Murthy. Perhaps it was for this reason that DKS stood firmly with the party line and even issued a show-cause notice to Iqbal Hussain.
(The author is a senior journalist)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
