The power tussle in Karnataka between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is also the president of the party in the state, seems to have reached a crescendo, with some ministers and party legislators openly demanding a change of guard in the government and the party.
The Siddaramaiah camp has revived its demand to appoint deputy chief ministers from other castes and a new state party chief citing the ‘one man, one post’ rule. The Shivakumar camp has called for the replacement of the chief minister, reminding the high command of the power sharing formula.
At the heart of the conflict is a ‘secret pact’ for power sharing mooted by the Congress high command in May 2023 to placate the top two contenders for the chief minister’s post after the party wrested power from the BJP. After a thumping victory, 135 of 224 seats, a bitter battle broke out between the two leaders, forcing the party leadership to arrive at the peace formula to end the stalemate. Accordingly, Siddaramaiah, a mass leader and Kuruba leader who holds sway over the AHINDA (minorities, dalits and backward classes) voters, became chief minister and Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga strongman, was appointed deputy chief minister. Shivakumar was also allowed to retain the state party chief’s post.
The demand for multiple deputy chief ministers has been on since then, and it gained momentum prior to the Lok Sabha polls. Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna urged the party leadership to appoint one deputy chief minister each from Lingayats, dalits and the minorities. But the party leadership put the foot down and the factions were forced to put up a united front. After the Lok Sabha polls, however, the demand resurfaced. Shivakumar loyalists see this move as an effort to diminish his stature in the party. The strategy, they say, is to dissuade him from staking the claim to the top post by weakening his position in the party.
Rajanna recently said that appointing caste-wise deputy chief ministers would “give representation” to prominent communities and help the party gain their confidence. “The decision is left to the party’s central leadership,” he said. Home Minsiter G. Parameshwara, PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi and Minority Welfare Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan have echoed him. Despite Shivakumar warning the leaders of disciplinary action, they have not stopped clamouring for deputy chief ministers.
Shivakumar, however, is no pushover. He earned the deputy chief minister’s post after leading the party to a thumping victory, say his supporters. “He has built the party from scratch,” said legislator Shivaganga Basavaraj. “He is responsible for the party coming to power in the state and winning nine seats to the Lok Sabha. The party is free to appoint as many deputy chief ministers as demanded once Shivakumar has been made the chief minister.”
The battle has now spread into other realms with religious leaders taking sides and pitching for their community leaders. Sri Chandrashekharanatha Swamiji of Vishwa Vokkaliga Mahasamsthana Mutt, a prominent Vokkaliga seer, publicly urged Siddaramaiah to step down while sharing the dais with the chief minister and the deputy chief minister at the Kempegowda birth anniversary celebrations. “Everyone has enjoyed power and it is now time for D.K. Shivakumar to become the chief minister,” he said. “I urge Siddaramaiah to relinquish his post for Shivakumar.”
The seer’s statement evoked mixed reaction. “Will the pontiff give up his position for me?” asked Rajanna.
Seers veering to politics is nothing new in Karnataka. As mentioned by G.T. Devegowda, a legislator of the Janata Dal (Secular), a Kuruba seer had demanded that Siddaramaiah be made chief minister in 2019, when H.D. Kumaraswamy was heading the JD(S)-Congress coalition government. Also, Lingayat seers had rallied behind BJP veteran B.S. Yediyurappa when the party had decided to replace him as chief minister.
Balehonnur Rambhapuri Mutts’s Veera Someshwara Shivacharya Swami and Srisaila Jagadguru Channa Siddarama Panditaradhya Swami, both Lingayat seers, have demanded a Lingayat chief minister or deputy chief minister in the event of a change in leadership.
AHINDA Karnataka president Prabhulinga Doddamani has threatened to stage a statewide protest if Siddaramaiah was forced out. “The Congress will not survive if Siddaramaiah is removed. The party should not forget that it has won 135 seats because of the overwhelming support of the backward classes,” he said.
R. Ashok, leader of the opposition in the assembly, said Siddaramaiah was exploiting the caste divisions to keep political control. Recalling the defeat of Parameshwara in Koratagere assembly constituency in 2013, Ashok said, “Like Parameshwara, [Shivakumar’s brother] D.K. Suresh was defeated in Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency by Siddaramaiah to keep Shivakumar under check. The demand for three deputy chief ministers is just to counter Shivakumar.”
Siddaramaiah is the only chief minister after S.M. Krishna (1999-2004) to serve a full term in the state. During his first stint (2013-2018), he had resisted having a deputy to avoid a parallel power centre. In fact, his elevation to the post of the chief minister within seven years of his joining the Congress had not gone down well with many “original” Congressmen, especially Parameshwara, who was said to be the CM-in-waiting.
The Congress leaders in the state are a divided lot―both over replacing Siddaramaiah as chief minister and Shivakumar as party chief. While Siddaramaiah enjoys the support of a large number of legislators, Shivakumar’s efforts to strengthen and energise the party have earned him the admiration of both party cadres and the high command.
The Congress had set a target of winning 20 seats in the state in the Lok Sabha elections, but it could win only nine. It is being used against Shivakumar by the rival faction, as the party fared poorly in the Vokkaliga heartland of the Old Mysore region. A bigger embarrassment was Suresh’s defeat against NDA candidate Dr C.N. Manjunath in Bengaluru Rural, his home turf.
The alliance between the JD(S) and the BJP was clearly a spoiler for the Congress and Shivakumar has announced that a fact-finding committee would visit all districts to investigate the reasons for the setback. That, however, offers no respite for him from the humiliation of the party’s poor show in his stronghold.
Shivakumar had managed to woo the Vokkaligas before the assembly elections, asking them to help a fellow Vokkaliga to occupy the chief minister’s seat. However, the community seems to have shifted its loyalty back to the JD(S) in the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress won only two of 14 seats in south Karnataka. With Kumaraswamy emerging stronger after winning the Mandya Lok Sabha seat and bagging a cabinet berth in the Narendra Modi government, Shivakumar’s prospects of emerging as the tallest Vokkaliga leader after former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda have dimmed.
Shivakumar is now trying to reclaim his power by winning Channapatna, the seat vacated by Kumaraswamy, in the bypolls. This would help him take control of the Ramanagara district in the Vokkaliga belt. He has been visiting the constituency and holding closed door meetings with Vokkaliga leaders and attending public events to announce development projects.
Amid the furore, both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar rushed to Delhi and held separate meetings with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and apprised him of the situation. The high command, too, seems divided and is buying time to take a decision.
Party sources said Kharge, who is from Karnataka, is in favour of Shivakumar continuing as the party chief, as the party is bracing for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections and taluk and zilla panchayat polls. However, the Siddaramaiah camp is trying to convince the leadership to appoint an AHINDA leader as party chief, citing the communities’ unwavering support to the party in the elections. “We need a full-time party chief as there is a need to strengthen the party,” said Parameshwara. “Shivakumar is handling two big portfolios―water resources and Bengaluru development―and is working on building Brand Bengaluru. That would leave him with little time to focus on the party affairs.”
The Congress is likely to choose a Veerashaiva-Lingayat leader from north Karnataka if it wants to replace Shivakumar, as it would help it challenge the BJP’s firm hold over the biggest community in the state. B.Y. Vijayendra, a Lingayat, heads the BJP’s state unit.
Shivakumar, however, is in no mood to take everything lying down. A day after confidential meetings with Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, he convened a meeting of the party’s office bearers in Bengaluru and made a strong statement. “How was the party before I took over as the party chief and how is it now? Sonia Gandhi gave me the reins of the party when the party was going through a crisis,” he said. “Today, the party is strong and it is my responsibility to strengthen it further. I work hard for the party and no one can remove me. The party high command is watching everything.”