BENGALURU: The BJP-JDS onslaught seems to have only made Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stronger at the Congress high command level, and he is likely to continue in his post, regardless of the action taken by Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot.
At a Janandolana meeting held at Mysuru on Friday, the CM’s cabinet colleagues threw their weight behind him, giving an indication of their mood. After the Janandolana, the tone and tenor of the Congress party’s rank and file, which was on a weak footing over the CM’s post, has changed, say sources. Those who were expecting a change have started backing Siddaramaiah to the hilt, they added.
Ahead of the Janandolana rally, AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala had arrived in the state capital to send a clear message that the high command would stand by Siddaramaiah. They asserted that there was no material in the allegation that Siddaramaiah had got MUDA to illegally allot 14 sites to his wife Parvathi. According to well-placed sources, Siddaramaiah’s son and former Varuna MLA Dr Yathindra had played a key role in convincing the high command leaders over the issue.
“The council of ministers passed a resolution in his absence against the governor issuing show-cause notice to him, which itself was testimony to the high command being firmly with him. Even if the governor gives sanction to prosecute Siddaramaiah and an FIR is filed against him, he is unlikely to step down. He has moral support from the high command, and his cabinet colleagues are saying they will fight it out legally,” observed a senior Congress leader. AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge’s supporters, too, are convinced that he doesn’t want to disturb Siddaramaiah in this crisis, a source informed.
According to political analysts, the Congress leadership realised that removing a ‘mass leader’ like Siddaramaiah unceremoniously will backfire. They learnt this from the BJP, which had got another mass leader, BS Yediyurappa, to step down in disgrace. “It is because of Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy and BJP high command that state leaders too were forced to attack Siddaramaiah in the MUDA case, which is not a fit case. In fact, the denotification of Arkavathy Layout was a fit case but the opposition did not strike at the right time,” observed a BJP leader.
At the valedictory of the BJP-JDS padayatra in Mysuru, Kumaraswamy had raised the issue and asked Siddaramaiah why he had not tabled the Justice Kempanna Commission’s report on the denotification case.