Who will be Karnataka CM; Congress faces choice of plenty
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, May 16: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has reached the national capital to hold parleys with the central leadership of the party. At 75, he’s known to be Congress’ best bet in Karnataka, with appeal across the state, while being the top face of the 24 per cent other backward caste (OBC) vote base.
His challenger and the Karnataka state unit chief of the Congress D K Shivakumar has stayed back in Bengaluru to celebrate his birthday. He in fact has not been asked by the central leadership to come to the national capital. He’s 61 years old, and is claiming to have led the party to a mandate which was last seen only in 1989.
But Congress leadership is wiser from experiences gained from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Also, the Congress has shunned the politics of legacy by choosing Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in Himachal Pradesh as the chief minister.
“There is no one in Karnataka who can really dictate terms to the Central leadership of the Congress. There is no scope for anyone to attempt doing a Jyotiraditya Scindia on the Congress in Karnataka. The choice of the Congress in choosing the next chief minister will entirely be a political decision,” said a senior Congress functionary.
The Congress campaign committee chief M B Patil has been silently working for his case, while being emboldened with Sukhu’s elevation, who was also holding same position in Himachal Pradesh. Patil is basing his case on the ground that the Congress has now 37 Lingayata MLAs, and “there is a demand from the seers for a person from the community to be either the chief minister or the deputy chief minister of the state”.
Rambapuri Seer, an influential Veerashaiva religious leader, and Dingaleshwara Swamiji, another Linagayata seer, have upon the Congress to be grateful for the community, which supported the party in the Assembly election.
While Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar hail from the OBC and the Vokkaliga community, G. Paramaeshwara is also in the reckoning, cashing on his scheduled caste background. It may be recalled that outgoing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had launched a scathing attack on Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for a number of alleged scams, including irregularities in recruitment of teachers and solar power.
“Having made corruption the principal poll plank in Karnataka, the Congress may bet on a new face altogether with clean image and a caste profile, which adds to the larger national narrative with an eye to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” said a senior Congress functionary.
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