Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 18: Ending days of uncertainty, the Congress high command resolved the Karnataka puzzle in the wee hours of Thursday naming the former chief minister Siddaramaiah again as the next Chief Minister with the state Congress president DK Shivakumar to be his deputy. The new ministry will be installed in the office on Saturday.
Besides Shivakumar finally agreeing to become Siddaramaiah’s deputy, the Congress sources said an agreement has also been reached on split power sharing between the two leaders, each holding the office of the chief minister for two and half years.
Shivakumar will continue to hold the office of the state Congress chief, a move that violate the party’s own set standard of “one-man-one-post.” The issue had caused a strife in the party last year when the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had demanded to continue as the chief minister while taking over as the national Congress president. His demand was turned down and Gehlot preferred to stay on as Rajasthan chief minister and Mallikarjun Kharge was elected the Congress president to succeed Sonia Gandhi.
A meeting of the Karnataka Congress legislature party will be held in Bengaluru later in the evening where the names of the chief minister and the deputy chief minister will finally be endorsed paving the new team to take the oath of office and secrecy.
The decision that Siddaramaiah has been selected the new chief minister was announced after days of internal wrangling, with both contenders pushing for the top job. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala while announcing the decision dodged a question whether the five-year term will be split among them, saying, “Power-sharing means sharing power with the people of Karnataka, nothing else.”
Both leaders expressed their commitment to work together. “Karnataka’s secure future and our people’s welfare is our top priority, and we are united in guaranteeing that,” tweeted Shivakumar. Siddaramaiah said, “Our hands will always be united to protect the interests of Kannadigas. The Congress party will work as a family.”
Sources close to Shivakumar said he had accepted the Number two position, and keeping his job as the party’s state unit chief, following an intervention by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The sources said the veteran leader had agreed to make the “sacrifice in the interest of the party.”
DK Suresh, Congress MP and Mr Shivakumar’s brother, told NDTV that they are “not happy”. “My brother wanted to be Chief Minister. We are not happy with this decision,” he said.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar met Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Thursday morning. This was the first meeting between the two leaders since the tussle for the top post began. The two leaders then went to meet Congress chief Kharge.
Earlier, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had made two offers to Shivakumar at a meeting in Delhi on Wednesday. But the meet remained inconclusive, with the top post contender turning down both options, sources said. Another meeting was held later in the evening.
There is no clarity on whether there has been a final decision on the rotational Chief Ministership yet. The power-sharing arrangement, it is learnt, now hinges on the Congress’s performance in Karnataka in the general election next year.
A lot was riding on the decision because of next year’s general election. While Mr Shivakumar has a following among the state’s politically crucial Vokkaligas, Siddaramaiah has the support of the AHINDA platform — an old social combination of minorities, Other Backward Classes, and Dalits, which had voted en masse for the Congress.
Despite vying for the job, Shivakumar had ruled out a rebellion early on. “If the party wants, they can give me the responsibility… Ours is a united house. I don’t want to divide anyone here. Whether they like me or not, I am a responsible man. I will not backstab, and I will not blackmail,” he had said.
Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were in the running for the Karnataka Chief Minister’s post, but it was clear from the start that Siddaramaiah had the edge. Shivakumar had worked extremely hard, invested enormous effort and resources, and has a huge stake in the Congress victory, but he will have to bide his time.
The longevity of the détente will depend entirely on the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, both in Karnataka and nationally.
Though former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had a clear advantage in this tussle, the deal is lucrative for Shivakumar too. Shivakumar faces Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate cases related to assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. There is a strong possibility of the central government aggressively pursuing these cases. The optics of a Chief Minister ambushed by cases like these will be detrimental to the Congress ahead of the 2024 elections, especially as the party won on a strong “40 percent sarkar” campaign that focused on corruption allegations against the outgoing BJP government.
Even as the Congress was confabulating on who will be Chief Minister, the Supreme Court deferred its hearing on the CBI’s plea challenging an interim stay on the probe into Shivakumar’s alleged illegal wealth. This is a reminder that the cases are alive and there is a shadow hanging over him. This was always a major and decisive factor against him in the race for the top job in Karnataka.
Siddaramaiah is the tallest mass leader among all legislators in Karnataka. His appeal cuts across different regions of Karnataka and he has always had the support of a majority of Congress MLAs. His stature and his experience – he completed a full term – worked in his favour. He would have been the obvious choice, had it not been for the strong challenge from the state Congress president. In fact, many former cabinet ministers were firmly in favour of Siddaramaiah as he is a tested administrator.
Siddaramaiah’s appointment may not go down well with the Vokkaliga caste groups, but a powerful accommodation for Shivakumar as his deputy could offset that negative. The converse wouldn’t have worked.
The scales were heavily tilted towards Siddaramaiah, but it was Shivakumar’s hard bargaining that forced the Congress to make an exception to the “one man, one post” rule and let Shivakumar continue as the state Congress president and Deputy Chief Minister. This gives him considerable influence over the cabinet and a firm hold over the party.
Shivakumar is also expected to get key portfolios for himself and those close to him. This is to ensure that the power balance in the cabinet is not skewed. During Siddaramiah’s previous term (2013-2018), he refused to even induct Shivakumar in the cabinet in the first year. There was a sense that Siddaramaiah is authoritarian, and veteran party leaders, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, were sidelined in the state.
In many ways, Shivakumar’s tough talk, backed by some senior leaders, was focused on containing Siddaramaiah’s control. They knew he was likely to win the race but they wanted to make sure he didn’t have unlimited control. This objective seems to have been achieved and Shivakumar is poised to be a strong force in the cabinet and the party. This also makes sure that after the 2024 polls, if a change has to be enforced, the power balance is not tilted towards the Chief Minister.
Arguably, the Congress has managed a solution that’s the best possible outcome for both contenders. However, both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are from the Old Mysore region and the challenge for the Congress now is to ensure representation from all regions and social groups in the cabinet. Those optics are essential in the run-up to 2024.
But a senior Congress leader G. Parameshwara put a damper on the formation of the new ministry by his cautioning the party’s central leadership that if a Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) post was not given to a Dalit, there would be adverse reaction and it would spell trouble for the party.
The 71-year-old Parameshwara, a Dalit, was Deputy CM during Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by H.D. Kumaraswamy. He was also the longest-serving Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief (eight years).
To a question about Shivakumar having allegedly put a condition to the leadership that he should be the only DCM, Parameshwara said, “What he has said might be right in Shivakumar’s point of view, but high command’s viewpoint should be different. High Command has to decide, we expect them [high command] to…”
