Like a batsman celebrating a century in a high-stakes match, DK Shivakumar marked 100 days in office as Chief Minister by reflecting on his achievements and gaining a sobering perspective on the daunting task ahead.
While announcing his plans to build a “Drudha Karnataka” (“strong Karnataka”), the CM admitted that the road ahead will not be easy, and that the next 500 days demand greater determination and effort. He appears resolute, with clear plans and means to realise them. However, time and resources are major challenges for the 64-year-old Vokkaliga strongman who will lead his party into the assembly polls in about 18 months.
The government needs to convince citizens about the mega projects, overcome political and legal hurdles, and show results quickly. Given the short tenure, completing big projects like the Bengaluru Tunnel Road that the CM is planning to start is nearly impossible. The caste census report, which is coming to the fore again, could land Shivakumar’s government in a politically uncomfortable situation.
Holding elections to the local bodies, including five corporations in Bengaluru, and ensuring that his party does well is a Herculean task. Internal political dynamics within Congress, and the BJP-JDS-combined opposition going after the government at every step, could be key hurdles for the CM’s efforts to take the party to the assembly polls with his government’s report card.
Take, for example, the controversial tunnel road project. Apart from technical issues, it raises a basic question: Is it meant for all or a small section of society that can afford the high toll? Relying fully on a private player, or an investor, for such a project within the city makes it unaffordable for a large section of citizens.
Can most car users afford to pay around Rs 330 for a one-way commute of 19 km on a daily basis? It is understandable that mega projects require private players and investments. However, this project is being dubbed as one of many solutions to address the traffic congestion in the burgeoning metropolis. While implementing it, the administration must consider models that serve its intended purpose of decongesting the roads, not creating two sets of road users and leaving the congestion unaddressed. Perhaps the government that has made many course corrections in the last 100 days will make efforts to take people into confidence, and not steamroll those raising questions.
Also, the question over caste census implementation could put the government on a sticky wicket. The issue has come to the fore again after former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah publicly asked the Shivakumar government to implement it. Siddaramaiah had commissioned the survey during his first tenure as the CM (2013-18), and the report was ready by 2015. However, it was submitted to the government during his second tenure in March 2024.
The report was scrapped as the data was over a decade old and a fresh survey was ordered. The former CM had received the over 300-page report from the State Backward Classes Commission just a day before he resigned, raising questions on if the report was ready much earlier.
Some Congress leaders are of the view that by insisting on the implementation of the report now, the former CM is using it for his political leverage. Former chairperson of the commission, CS Dwarakanath, says Siddaramaiah had an opportunity to implement it, but he did not do it. For now, the government is waiting for the High Court decision on the petition challenging the survey to proceed.
Congress seeks to build a narrative for its 2028 assembly and 2029 Lok Sabha polls around social justice and taking on the Union Government on its caste enumeration. Prior to that, the state government has to take a decision on its caste census report, which may face pushback from Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.
Taking two prominent communities along while implementing the caste census report will be a tough call for the CM, especially ahead of the assembly polls and local bodies elections, including those for the five corporations in Bengaluru.
It is not certain if the government will hold local bodies polls in the next few months. If it does, winning corporation polls in Bengaluru would be a big challenge for the Congress. Going by the 2023 assembly polls and the Lok Sabha Polls held a year later, BJP seems to have an advantage over Congress in the state capital. The aggressive opposition, amplifying even the smallest mistakes and unkept promises, makes the government’s task difficult.
The other serious challenges confronting the government include corruption allegations, a prominent minister raided by the Enforcement Directorate, the urgent need to provide relief to farmers in drought-declared taluks, and depleting water storage levels in reservoirs in the Cauvery basin that could impact Bengaluru too. In Congress, Shivakumar is known as a trouble-shooter and a leader who can convert crises into opportunities.
The party and its government would increasingly rely on those traits to hold them in good stead as the CM looks to build his innings over the next 18 months.