Congress works Karnataka choice with eye on 2024 LS polls
Photo credit Twitter Siddaramaiah
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, May 16: Karnataka state unit chief DK Shivakumar is reaching the national capital amid indications that the Congress would shortly announce its chief ministerial nominee to pave way for the oath ceremony in the state. Former chief minister and the other backward caste face of the Congress Siddaramaiah is slated to lead the Congress government.
Insiders in the Congress claimed that the Congress top brass is bidding time not to pick the CM face only, but also to get the equation right with the government formation to position on the right side of the social engineering. Sources said that Shivakumar delayed his arrival in the national capital to put pressure on the party high command to not group him in a crowd of deputy chief ministers.
“The Assembly election is done and the Congress now has to see how the party could maintain the winning social engineering for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Shivakumar doesn’t want that he is made a deputy chief ministers along with others also. But the Congress leadership has a hard choice in obliging his wishes,” said a Congress insider.
Within the Congress the debate is raging on ways to make further inroads in the formidable Lingayata community. “The Congress has more Lingayata MLAs than the BJP. These 37 MLAs will not rest calm to see that a Vokkaliga with just 23 MLAs bag the post of the deputy chief minister, and one among them is left disappointed,” added the Congress insider.
Additionally, the Congress made a windfall of the consolidation of the 13 per cent Muslim vote base and Dalits in favour of the party. Muslims have become vocal in the state to press for the representation among the list of deputy chief ministers.
“Shivakumar wants that there should be just one deputy chief minister, if the party high command slots him for the role. But the politics of the day demands that the Congress could even be thinking in terms of not one or two but four deputy four deputy chief ministers,” said another Congress insider.
U. T. Khader, a four-term Congress MLA and deputy leader of the Opposition in the last Assembly, has also come in the reckoning for the post of deputy chief minister, sources said, adding that the Congress would seek to appeal to the minority vote base across the country with its choice in Karnataka.
The Congress campaign committee chief MB Patil and Dalit leader G. Parameshwara are two others who are actively lobbying for the positions of deputy chief ministers.
About The Author
