BENGALURU: The massive drubbing for Congress in the Bihar Assembly elections, whose results were announced on Friday, seems to have cleared the air over change in leadership in Karnataka.
It appears now that Siddaramaiah will continue as CM for the full five-year term, while the party high command will also likely give its nod for the expansion of his cabinet and creation of two more deputy chief minister posts, sources said.
“What’s the relation between Bihar results and state’s political scene,” questioned Siddaramaiah when asked whether he has become strong. Asked if Congress failed to garner the support of OBCs in Bihar, Siddaramaiah asked, “Who is Nitish Kumar? Is he not an OBC leader,” implying that like Nitish, he too would be indispensable for Karnataka Congress as an OBC leader.
“We will be in power for the remaining two-and-a-half years. I am confident we will return to power in 2028,” he said, releasing Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s book Neerina Hejje.
Siddaramaiah has cut short his Delhi trip from earlier three days to a day, restricting it to the book release event of senior leader Kapil Sibal on Saturday. He is not likely to meet party high command leaders including LoP in LS Rahul Gandhi, who will be on a 10-day trip to Finland.“An agreement on Siddaramaiah transferring power to Shivakumar after two-and-a-half years, which falls on November 20, has been agreed upon at the high command level and only a few leaders know about it.
But with the massive loss in Bihar, the high command will not take the risk of changes in the government or the party. Karnataka is the only big state it is in power and it does not want to lose it,” a Congress legislator said.
But the Shivakumar camp argues that the key takeaway from Bihar is that the party high command should also take forward castes into confidence along with the OBCs and minorities to win polls.
They said that the change in CM may be delayed, but it will happen at an appropriate time as the high command has to keep its word.
“Bihar polls will boost the morale of Karnataka BJP and put Congress on the defensive. The defeat weakens the Central leadership and may result in dissidence with both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar camps upping the ante. It is a complicated situation for both the high command and state unit. The results could be a blessing in disguise for Siddaramaiah, but if it happens the other way, it could lead to some uncertainty in Congress,” observed political analyst Dr Sandeep Shastri.
“Politics of every state is different. Just because they (NDA) did well in Bihar, it doesn’t necessarily translate to something significant in Karnataka. But it will definitely force Congress to reassess its strategy. Except for Karnataka and Telangana, the party is not doing well. Even in states like Tamil Nadu they are piggy backing on DMK. It needs to see how to protect the party, government and how to take forward the administration,” he observed.