
BENGALURU: While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar are shadowboxing over sharing of power, a change in guard, both in the government and ruling Congress, is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Camps of the two top leaders seem to be checkmating each other with Siddaramaiah’s coterie wanting to replace Shivakumar as KPCC president, while the latter itching to become CM.
Magadi MLA HC Balakrishna’s statement on Saturday that a new KPCC president should take over after Shivakumar becomes CM gave enough indication. “Since Siddaramaiah, originally a JDS leader, is CM, the party’s top post of KPCC president is unlikely to be handed out to his camp members, especially Satish Jarkiholi.
This is to balance the equation. There is no match to Shivakumar, who is a staunch Congress loyalist,” said a Vokkaliga MLA.
When the party came to power in 2023, Shivakumar made a strong claim for the CM post, having led the party to victory, but settled for the DCM post with the proviso that he should continue to be the KPCC president, the MLA pointed out. But Siddaramaiah’s loyalists, in particular PWD minister Satish Jarkiholi, recently stated that there was an agreement that after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, there should be a change.
Even as the Shivakumar camp claimed that there was a pact at the high command level that there would be a transfer of power after Siddaramaiah completed his two-and-a-half years of the term, the CM’s camp asserted there was no such agreement.
The party high command has not issued any clarification further complicating matters. But AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge was forced to issue a statement that he and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi will decide if there has to be a change. “But he did not say that there will be no change, but that it will happen at the appropriate time.
The high command had to walk the tightrope as the Siddaramaiah camp, through Satish Jarkiholi, is trying to consolidate its position. Satish’s brother Ramesh too has the potential to pose a threat to the government which the Congress high command is trying to thwart,” observed another Congress leader.
The opposition BJP being a divided house has turned into a blessing for Congress, observed an analyst.
The transition of power will happen only after bargaining for power between the two camps reaches a logical end. Some of Siddaramaiah’s loyalists are rabble rousing as they fear they would be ignored under changed circumstances, he said.