As the sombre, if somewhat monotonous oath-taking ceremony of DK Shivakumar was taking place at Bengaluru's Lok Bhavan (formerly Raj Bhavan) on Wednesday afternoon, there must have been a fair sprinkling of keen observers both at the venue and those watching it on their television sets entertaining a stray thought at some point: how will Shivakumar, for all his experience of four decades in politics, handle the ominous shadow of his predecessor Siddaramaiah, and give a good administration in Karnataka?
As the parade of oath-taking lasted nearly an hour, it was clear that the selection of ministerial aspirants had been heavily influenced by Siddaramaiah, as all of them, barring two, had served under him. His son, Yathindra, was the sole new entrant. The party may justify the retention of heavyweights - some even 'over-weights' - saying that most of the seniors could not be ignored and Shivakumar's brigade of "young and new faces" will find space in the second or third phase of the ministry's expansion.
It was not just new wine in an old bottle, or, in Karnataka's context, new arrack in an old pot, but capitulation by both Shivakumar and the Congress before a powerful leader to buy peace. But given his volatile temperament, whether Siddaramaiah will continue to offer his 'cooperation' or find a 'trigger point' to test the stability or vulnerability of the government remains to be seen.
When Deve Gowda Played Shadow CM
On the issue of managing political compulsions, there is this example of a veteran Congressman, Dharam Singh, who helmed Karnataka's first Congress-JD(S) coalition government between 2004 and 2006 as chief minister. In the 2004 Assembly polls, the SM Krishna-led Congress government plummeted from 132 seats to 65, while the BS Yediyurappa-led BJP won an impressive 79 seats. But, it was the HD Deve Gowda-led JD(S) that emerged as a 'king-maker,' offering chief ministership to Congress's Dharam Singh while taking a secondary role.
It was clear to Dharam Singh from the beginning that the experienced and wily Deve Gowda would play 'shadow chief minister', and he would have to comply. Singh dutifully visited Gowda's residence almost every evening with official files and spent almost two hours with Gowda reporting on the day's developments and taking 'instructions'. The arrangement continued for 20 months before Gowda pulled the rug from under Dharam Singh's feet.
However, Siddaramaiah, a socialist and not someone with a feudal bent of mind, is expected to operate at a more sophisticated level. Shivakumar is also likely to 'consult' him on a regular basis as a matter of goodwill. The party high command may even constitute a coordination committee to include either Randeep Surjewala or KC Venugopal as well to ensure a smooth functioning of the government.
Shivakumar, having realised his dream of becoming the chief minister after a long wait, may not want to rock his boat, especially since he has the responsibility of preparing the party for the next Assembly polls in 2028 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2029.
To their credit, it must be said that despite their unrelenting tug-of-war over chief ministership almost from the time of 2023 election results, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have publicly maintained cordiality - even taking friendly jibes at each other - which should give hope that they are two mature politicians who have found ways of working together.
Complementing each other
Importantly, they possibly realise that given their individual strengths of one being an OBC 'Ahinda' leader and another coming from the dominant Vokkaliga community, they complement each other, which helped the Congress get an absolute majority, winning 136 seats in the last election.
At the party level, Shivakumar has shown great organisational skills. Taking over as KPCC president in 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, when nobody wanted to take the responsibility, Shivakumar travelled across the state to help farmers by buying their produce and distributing them free among the people, including daily wage earners. He also silently arranged transport for lakhs of people to go back to their hometowns during the difficult time of the pandemic.
As the state Congress president for six years, he has also displayed his mobilising capability by enrolling about 78 lakh workers, claimed to be the largest enrolment by the Congress party in the country. Now that he will be stepping down as KPCC president, on assuming charge as chief minister, he is on the lookout for someone who will work with him in harmony rather than becoming a rival power centre.
Satish Jarkiholi, one of the senior leaders of the party, was keen on the KPCC post. But, the party has apparently persuaded him to join the cabinet. A veteran leader and Gandhi family loyalist, BK Hariprasad is tipped to be a front-runner to become KCC president.
Warding off competition from a handful of his colleagues, G Parameshwara has emerged as the sole deputy chief minister, which is what Shivakumar wished as well at the moment. A Lingayat and a Muslim being included later as deputy chief ministers cannot be ruled out.
Shivakumar will be well aware that Siddaramaiah, having grown as a larger-than-life figure and recently becoming the state's longest serving chief minister, overtaking D Devaraj Urs, continues to enjoy the respect and loyalty of a large number of ministers and MLAs. Being young and ambitious, he is looking beyond 2028 and winning another term for the Congress and a full-term for himself.
He has already granted Siddaramaiah's wish to continue to stay in the CM's official residence, 'Cauvery', for two more years and would probably continue his generosity towards him in many other ways to keep him in good humour and ensure a stable tenure for his government.
(The author is a senior journalist)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
