Karnataka: Siddaramaiah to be CM with deputies; three throw hats in ring
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, May 13: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, 75, is all set to lead the state after the thumping victory of the Congress in the state. But the Congress high command is now faced with a tricky situation on a number of deputy chief ministers Siddaramaiah will have to work with until he is asked to pass the baton midway.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi sent out multiple messages on the campaign trails that he was backing both Siddaramaiah and the Karnataka state unit chief D K Shivakumar. Gandhi got both the leaders to beat the drum with him on the campaign trail.
While Shivakumar has not hidden his ambition of becoming the chief minister of the state, he, sources said, may bid his time and stay in the shadow of Siddaramaiah, as he knows that the former chief minister is the tallest OBC leader in Karnataka. The OBC vote base is the largest constituency in Karnataka with almost 24 per cent vote share.
Sources said that nearly three-fourth of the winning Congress MLAs are backing Siddaramaiah in the race for the chief minister. Shivakumar may have to settle with the post of the deputy chief minister, for his caste Vokkaliga is not yet the top catchment vote base of the Congress. Twenty three newly-elected MLAs in the Congress hail from the Vokkaliga caste, which principally backs the JD (S) while also showing interests in the BJP.
The Congress may have to address the aspirations of two more formidable claimants for the positions of deputy chief ministers. The Congress campaign committee chief MB Patil, who was instrumental in lapping the BJP veterans Jagdish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, is also staking his claim on the ground that 37 newly-elected MLAs of the party belong to the Lingayata caste. Patil hails from the Lingayata caste.
G. Parmeshwara is another claimant for the post of the deputy chief minister, grounding his claim on his representing the scheduled caste group. The party claims to have gained most of the Dalit vote base in the state.
The Congress may have to choose one or two deputies of Siddaramaiah from the three claimants. The top brass of the Congress, sources said, is favourably disposed towards Shivakumar. Patil and Parmeshwara, sources said, have begun lobbying hard to impress upon the party high command to be mindful of the social engineering that worked for the party in the Assembly election which will also be needed in the next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
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