Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are powerful leaders with a strong support base, perhaps the reason why the Congress has not named a presumptive chief minister.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Even as Congress has started celebrating its poll victory in Karnataka, the issue that is hogging the limelight now is the tussle between the party’s top leaders in the state, Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar, for the chief minister’s job.
The two are the Congress’s top leaders in Karnataka, one a former chief minister and the other, the state Congress chief. Neither has been coy about their ambition for the coveted post.
Shivakumar, 61, broke down as he spoke about delivering on a promise to the Gandhis. He also said he had not slept for three years, ever since he made the promise, reports reaching here said.
“I assured Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge that I will deliver Karnataka. I can’t forget Sonia Gandhi coming to meet me in jail,” media reports quoted him as saying.
On who would be chief minister, he said: “The Congress office is our temple. We will decide our next step at the Congress office.”
Shivakumar has been the Congress’s troubleshooter for years.
One of the wealthiest politicians in Karnataka, “DKS” rose to prominence in 2019 when he unsuccessfully tried to salvage the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government, which collapsed after the mass defection of legislators from both parties.
Unlike Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar has always been a Congressman and has not lost a single election since his first electoral victory in 1989.
Shivakumar is facing several corruption cases and even spent time in Delhi’s Tihar Jail before being granted bail. There was much speculation about the timing of the investigation and raids against the Congress leader in 2017, when he was “guarding” Congress MLAs from Gujarat ahead of Rajya Sabha polls in the state.
On the other hand, Siddaramaiah, 75, has repeatedly said this is his last electoral contest, hoping, perhaps, that the Congress will consider this while making its choice.
For his critics in party, Siddaramaiah is still the “outsider”, an import from another party.
His son Yathindra Siddaramaiah said his father should be chief minister “for the sake of Karnataka”.
“We will do anything to keep the BJP out of power. In the interest of Karnataka, my father should become Chief Minister,” Yathindra Siddaramaiah was quoted in the media as saying.
“As a son, definitely I would like to see him as a chief minister. But as a resident of the state, his last regime saw good governance. This time also, if he becomes chief minister, the corruption and misrule of the BJP rule will be corrected by him. In the interest of the state also, he should become chief minister,” said Siddaramaiah Junior.
Siddaramaiah was first elected to the Karnataka Assembly in 1983. In 1994, he became deputy chief minister of the state as part of a Janata Dal government. Ten years later, in 2004, he was part of a Janata Dal (Secular) government, until he was expelled from the party after falling out with its leader H.D. Deve Gowda.
Two years later, in 2008, Siddaramaiah joined the Congress and became chief minister after the 2013 Karnataka polls.
Reacting to Congress’ spectacular success in the state Assembly polls held on May 10, Siddaramaiah said, “It’s a big victory for the Congress party. The people of Karnataka wanted change. This is a mandate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are powerful leaders with a strong support base, perhaps the reason why the Congress has not named a presumptive chief minister. Their rivalry is set to challenge Congress in the coming days.