Southern Lights | Karnataka Congress’ internecine strife spills out into the open

“There is dissonance in the party today for multiple reasons. After the serious loss in the Lok Sabha election, DK Shivakumar has not called for a joint review yet and instead asked each constituency to reflect on its result. He has neither requested the MLAs whose children were given tickets to speak up about the losses nor has Siddaramaiah addressed the issue of having lost all seats in his bastion Mysore - Karnataka,” said a senior Congress leader who did not wish to be named.

Seven of the nine seats the party won in the state are from the Kalyana Karnataka or north Karnataka region, the region to which All-India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun Kharge belongs. Additionally, the constituencies were overseen by the current Minister of the Public Works Department (PWD) Satish Jarkiholi, who has now emerged as a new power centre within the party and state.

“The Congress party in charge of Karnataka and one of the national general secretaries Randeep Surjewala said that three changes would be made after the general election - that the PCC chief would be changed, that concerns raised by senior party members addressed, and the issue of additional deputy CMs be considered. It is only valid that we ask for these changes to be implemented,” Jarkiholi said.

Caste-based demands for the deputy chief minister’s post

The below-par performance in the Lok Sabha election has widened cracks at multiple levels in the Congress party. Appeals for equitable representation from caste leaders have left the Congress high command perturbed. Data from the election results revealed that the Lingayats and Vokkaligas pledged their support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This has left Shivakumar’s position compromised in the party with his brother DK Suresh losing to CN Manjunath, former prime minister HD Devegowda’s son-in-law, who fought on a BJP ticket.

At the other end, Siddaramaiah’s hold over the party and his cabinet seems to have weakened with his ministers questioning the lack of support of the other backward classes (OBCs) during the elections. Except for Kurubas, the subsect of the OBCs that the CM belongs to, the remaining 16 categories of OBCs voted largely either for the BJP or the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS), data from the election commission showed.

Naturally, the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and the Muslims, who voted for the Congress in big numbers are the ones making demands for the three deputy CM posts. Leading the pack is Jarkiholi, a senior ST leader who is not just a minister but among the handful of ministers whose daughter won the election from Chikkodi.

Shivakumar gave 14 of the 28 tickets to the kin of sitting ministers who supposedly guaranteed victory ensuring that voters would be wooed with money and other promises.

“With Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar unable to consolidate their position, there is a strained relationship not just between the two of them but also the among leaders in the party. For DKS’ camp, there is a fear of Siddaramaiah not keeping his word. Among those siding with the CM, there are insecurities about the high command giving in to DKS’ money power and undermining the CM’s position,” said A Narayana, Prof of Politics at the Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

"But our DK Shivakumar has not become chief minister yet," he said, adding that Siddaramaiah has already been in power and he should make way for Shivakumar said Channagiri Congress MLA Basavaraju V Shivaganga to media persons last week.

Unlike Siddaramaiah’s previous five-year term, which was uninterrupted by intra-party disruptions, he has been targeted for unexpected quarters in this term. Minister for cooperation KN Rajanna, from the ST community, and housing minister BZ Zameer Ahmed have thrown their hat in the ring to be deputy CMs. Besides, about a dozen party leaders who were denied MP tickets have openly made their intentions clear about being chairpersons for state-run institutions.

Accountability and Action

Now that the elections are over, the fault lines are out in the open. Congress party leader, Rahul Gandhi, during his last visit to Karnataka, asked for a separate report on the election performance. Surjewala’s absence in the state after the election was also questioned by the party. Two sets of politicians within the Congress are demanding a course correction: The MPs who were denied tickets by Shivakumar, G Parameswara, home minister, and Siddaramaiah, and the second set, the MLAs-in waiting, who are waiting to replace the legislators whose kin have lost the election.

“The Congress’ congenital ability to manage its perception has never been bad. They have handed over management of state finances to the Boston Consulting Group; they perhaps need a perception managing firm as well,” said Narayana.

Other analysts who have watched Congress’ performance said the party and government are at risk of losing face after the momentum it gained for the guarantees assured ahead of the polls. They feel the intra-party dissonance is taking the focus off the state’s finances, which are in questionable shape. Sri Kumar Kannan, a senior poll watcher believes that the Siddaramaiah is a chief minister with strong administrative experience and is perhaps the strongest CM the Congress has had, one better than even former chief minister SM Krishna.

“But the high command is so consumed by the power struggle that it is unable to look at the finances and health issues plaguing the state,” said Kannan. Kannan said that Karnataka’s political and economic stability is crucial for South India as well given that it is the highest GST contributor among the five southern states.

Deepika Amirapu is a freelance journalist based in Hyderabad. Each week, Southern Lights examines the big story from one of the five states of South India.