With the Karnataka High Court hearing on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s plea challenging the governor’s sanction order against him in the MUDA allotment case reaching its final stage, the ruling Congress is in a state of flux.
Senior leaders, especially the cabinet colleagues of Siddaramaiah are openly expressing their “willingness” to occupy the top post in the event of a change of guard owing to an adverse ruling against the CM in the court.
At least half a dozen leaders including ministers G. Parameshwara, Satish Jarkiholi, Zameer Ahmed, Sharanabasappa Darshanapura, M.B. Patil and veteran leaders R.V. Deshpande, and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, have been openly asserting that they are certainly in the race for the CM’s post, while maintaining that the CM’s post is “not vacant” at present.
The political rhetoric of these chief ministerial aspirants has irked the Siddaramaiah supporters. Sensing trouble for their leaders, the Siddaramaiah faction has written a letter to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urging him to “warn” the leaders staking claim to the CM’s chair against making “damaging” statements in future in the interest of the Congress party in the state.
In a letter signed by 15 senior party leaders including an MLA and state party functionaries, the leaders have alleged that the BJP and JDS intend to destabilise the Congress government after the Siddaramaiah government implemented the five guarantees, which actually led to the party winning nine seats in the Parliament polls.
“The opposition parties have suddenly taken up the MUDA case and managed to get a sanction order from the governor against Siddaramaiah though he has no role in it. During the pendency of the case in the court, the BJP and JDS are now demanding the CM's resignation. But senior Congress leaders are busy staking claim to the CM’s post instead of fighting the BJP and JDS. The people are losing faith in the party and the government owing to infighting and reckless statements of the ministers. This is demoralizing our leaders and party workers alike and affecting governance too,” said the letter.
Interestingly, the demand to “rein in” the wannabe CMs has come from deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar’s faction too. Two MLCs Dinesh Gooligowda and Manjunath Bhandary have sought disciplinary action against ministers for making statements in public that are embarrassing to the party and the government. In a letter to AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, the legislators claimed that the unhindered talk by the ministers was affecting the party’s image and threatening the stability of the government.
With CM aspirants flying to Delhi frequently, speculations over replacing Siddaramaiah as CM are gaining decibels. Behind the scene, an annoyed Shivakumar, also the state party chief, is trying to cut the CM contenders to size. Shivakumar, who considers himself to be the first in the race for the coveted seat, is keen to protect Siddaramaiah’s position for now than battle a bunch of potential rivals in the race for the CM’s post.
In May 2023, when the party captured power in the state with 135 seats (of the 224), a secret 50:50 power sharing pact between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar was mooted by the party leadership to placate the Vokkaliga strongman. Insiders suspect that some leaders like Jarkiholi and Parameshwara were being encouraged by the Siddaramaiah faction to stake claim to the CM’s chair to diminish Shivakumar’s stature in the party.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar suddenly flying to the US with his family earlier this week met Rahul Gandhi in Washington DC (also posted the photographs on social media) as though giving a strong message to his detractors that he would not remain mum if they tried to overtake him in the race.
“As long as Siddaramaiah has the blessings of the high command, let him be the chief minister. I am also in the race for CM and believe the party will consider me too. The party high command will pick the person who gets the support of the MLAs,” said Shivashankarappa.
Transport minister R. Ramalinga Reddy claimed that the ministers were only trying to secure their positions and the change of guard would not be any time soon. “The ministers are referring to the change of CM in 2028. Siddaramaiah is doing a good job and he will complete a full term as the CM.”
Siddaramaiah, who is facing the biggest legal challenge of his 40-year-long political career, said, “As the CM’s chair is not vacant there is no question of any one staking claim to it. Also, I will undoubtedly continue as the chief minister,” he said.
BJP leader and LOP in Assembly R. Ashok said the Congress leaders seemed to have more confidence than the BJP that CM will soon resign. "The ministers are busy in the race for the CM and development in the state has suffered due to this," he added.
