Crisis helps former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah reassert his importance

Though Siddaramaiah heads the coalition’s coordination committee and the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), his followers were upset that he was being slowly sidelined by party leaders.

BENGALURU:  The political crisis that has pushed the coalition government to the brink seems to have come as a blessing in disguise for former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. With the Congress itself assigning him the task of defusing the crisis hours after he returned from his Europe trip, the developments have helped him reassert his position as the party’s “go-to man” in Karnataka.

Though Siddaramaiah heads the coalition’s coordination committee and the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), his followers were upset that he was being slowly sidelined by party leaders in the state and the JD(S) leadership. The letters he wrote to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on fuel price hike, Anna Bhagya scheme, appointment of university syndicate members, and other issues had gone unanswered, giving an impression that his views were not taken into consideration by the government.  There was also a perception that the coordination committee hardly has a role as Kumaraswamy and Deputy CM G Parameshwara seem to work in tandem and important decisions are taken with direct approval from the Congress’ Central leadership.

However, immediately after Siddaramaiah returned from his 12-day Europe tour, the Congress high command entrusted him the responsibility of solving the crisis. On Monday, he got into the act by meeting disgruntled leaders, including ministers and MLAs, and asked them not to precipitate the matters by speaking against the party and the government.

While his immediate challenge is to counter BJP’s alleged attempts to poach Congress MLAs and topple the government, he, along with other seniors in the party, have a tough task of handling the much-awaited cabinet expansion and its after-effects on the shaky coalition. With just six slots to fill under the party quota and many aspirants lobbying, it certainly is going to be a huge challenge to handle those who will be left out.

“As CM, Siddaramaiah had consolidated his position and even today he enjoys tremendous support among the party MLAs. Any perception that he is being sidelined will immediately evoke such a response,” political analyst Prof Sandeep Shastri said. “In some sense, Siddaramaiah felt that the importance that was due to him as a former CM, head of CLP and head of coordination committee was not being given,” he said.

Power struggle
Shastri attributed the ongoing crisis to power struggle within the Congress. “Ever since the Assembly election, there has been a power struggle in the state unit as to who gets to call the shots. The party was in a state of drift. It is not sure if it was the coordination panel chairman, Deputy CM or the KPCC chief who actually is the point person for the Congress at the state level,” he said. Political analyst Prof Harish Ramaswamy is of the view that the crisis underlined the importance of Siddaramaiah for the party. “The party has to depend on him. He will solve the crisis and get the credit for it,” he said. According to him, there is no real threat to the government as no party MLAs is keen to resign and face the election again. Prof Shastri, however, says the government is only moving from one crisis to another. “With only a wafer thin majority and infighting going on, the government is bound to face pinpricks on day-to-day basis,” he said.

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