MYSURU: There are no happy faces in Congress and JDS, which had entered into an alliance for the mayoral election to stop BJP from coming to power at the Mysuru City Corporation, as the tie-up has intensified factionalism within both parties.
The simmering differences between CLP leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC president DK Shiva Kumar has come to the fore ahead of the planned padayatras in constituencies that do not have Congress MLAs and by-elections to three Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat.
An upset Siddaramaiah has openly expressed his displeasure over not keeping him informed about entering into an alliance with JDS and settling for the deputy mayor’s post. The Ahinda leader had advised the party corporators and local leaders not to settle for anything less than the mayor’s post as agreed between the two parties when they were in alliance during the previous term at the corporation.
But KPCC working president R Dhruvanarayan, MLA Tanveer Sait, ex-mayors Ayub Khan, Arif Hussian and others held talks with JDS leaders Abdulla, Ravi, Chaluve Gowda and others and bargained for the mayor’s post.
When JDS did not budge and the power pendulum was tilting towards BJP, Congress leaders talked to Shivakumar at the last minute and settled for the deputy mayor’s post. Felt letdown in his own home turf, Siddaramaiah is now said to have asked the KPCC to serve a notice to Tanveer Sait. Other Congress leaders too have questioned the decision to hand over the mayor’s post to JDS.
Party sources asked why only Sait should be targeted when all party corporators were party to the decision. “Sait and Dhruvnarayan updated Shivakumar. The communication gap between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah only added to the confusion,” they said. Former CM HD Kumaraswamy and Sa Ra Mahesh are said to be unhappy with the alliance.
Kumaraswamy wanted to maintain equidistance between Congress and BJP to prove to the people that the party has its own individual, regional identity. Congress sources said that the developments could bring factionalism within the party to the fore ahead of the padayatras and bypolls. Shivakumar and other seniors will find it difficult to pacify Siddaramaiah and his supporters to put up a united front, they added.