Having won the Karnataka elections, the Congress now seeks to find the right person to occupy the chief ministerial chair, but they are caught in a dilemma as senior leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar are both strong contenders. While both the leaders are leaving no stone unturned to rally support for their candidature among the newly elected MLAs, according to insiders, Siddaramaiah has the edge.
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Just hours before the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, where AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC observers, Karnataka Congress office-bearers and elected MLAs will sit to make the final call, Kharge dialed the Gandhis to discuss the crucial decision and come up with a winning formula that would reward both leaders for their effort to bring the Congress back to power, with a thumping majority of 136 in the 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka.
Not wanting a repeat of Rajasthan in Karnataka, the Congress top leaders have been treading carefully while trying to answer the million-dollar question — Kaun Banega Karnataka ka Mukhyamantri?
It is learnt that the Congress high command has two formulae at hand to decide.
OPTION 1
The Congress high command’s first option is 50:50, where both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar will be the CM for 2.5 years each to ensure both get equally rewarded for their efforts.
Even though from the word go the Congress launched its attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on issues such as corruption, unemployment, inflation, and LPG prices, Shivakumar commandeered the party workers in the state, strategised alongside Siddaramaiah to ensure the candidates worked, garnered support to the last booth in their respective constituencies and campaigned extensively to bring the party to power with an absolute majority.
Siddaramaiah also fell in line with the party’s central leadership’s request to set aside his differences with Shivakumar and work to dislodge the BJP from the seat of power. The committed leader also reluctantly agreed to give up his dreams of contesting from Kolar, apart from Varuna, which, if Congress insiders are to be believed, was done with the promise to make him the CM.
OPTION 2
Another option is the Congress could convince Shivakumar by offering him plum ministries that he had earlier sought — water resources and energy — and deputy chief ministership. They are also requesting him to wait this term out as, by the next election, he will be “the” candidate for the coveted post.
Siddaramaiah, his opponent in the CM race, had announced this would be his last election.
THE STRENGTHS
Siddaramaiah has been holding closed-door meetings where he has been seeking the MLAs’ support to build his case before the central high command on why he should be made the CM.
Shivakumar, too, has been speaking to the newly elected MLAs to get their support and nominate him as their choice of CM candidate. Efforts have been on to prop up Shivakumar from the minute the Congress found itself in the lead on the counting day. A poster campaign showcasing DKS as the CM, followers screaming ‘DK, DK’ during the joint press conference of the Congress leadership to thank the voters and party workers have certainly got the attention of the high command.
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Insiders also tell News18 that Siddarmaiah has a slight edge with his earlier experience as the CM in 2013 and is considered an astute administrator and his appeal among the backward classes makes him the biggest mass leader in the state compared to Shivakumar. DKS, undoubtedly, a superior strategist, with inimitable organisational quality with a head-down approach, has been the Congress’s troubleshooter not just in Karnataka, but across India. The one they rely on to “keep MLAs safe” in resorts and ensure the Congress remains united.
“I am a Congressman till my last breath. The BJP offered me the post of Deputy CM or jail. I chose jail as I am a committed Congress worker,” Shivakumar had told News18.
“Siddaramaiah is truly a mass leader and he has been the only CM who has completed a full term in office after Devraj Urs. If he is named the CM now for a full five-time term, he will break records in the history of Karnataka to be the only CM to have had two full terms with a full majority in place. He is extremely popular as a CM, an excellent administrator, and his schemes have been the most impactful,” said a senior leader close to Siddaramaiah.
THE WEAKNESSES
Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have their own Achilles’ heel. Siddaramaiah, despite his mass support and popularity, is still considered an “outsider” in the Congress, having joined them only in 2008 after leaving the JDS.
Shivakumar, the blue-eyed boy of S M Krishna and now of the Congress high command, despite being arrested and sent to jail by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on charges of money laundering, fought a long and sustained battle to bring the Congress to power. Despite being made the Karnataka Congress Chief in 2020, he has the words ‘I-T and ED’ hanging above his head.
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“Had it not been for the cases that the ED has put on him, he would have been the man for the post. We all know that the BJP would not spare an opportunity to taint his image and sabotage his opportunity to be a CM by having the ED and Income Tax (I-T) officials arrest him. They can do anything,” said a D K Shivakumar associate, who is privy to the Congress party’s internal developments.
Interestingly, Shivakumar was seen at the samadhi of his guru, Kadusiddeshwara Swamiji, at the Mutt in Nonavinakere.
“I owe everything to my Guru Ajjayya, who made me what I am today. I offer all that I have at his feet. This is a place where I come to share my good and bad moments. My guru gives me immense strength to tide over crises and blessings and the power to be grateful when I have good news to share,” he said while stepping out of the mutt, named after Kadasiddeshwar Swamiji, a spiritual leader who lived six centuries ago.