Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar travelled to New Delhi on Friday afternoon for a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leaders to discuss political developments in Karnataka. This is their second visit to Delhi within a month. The meeting comes amid a controversy over land allotments in Mysuru to Siddaramaiah's wife. On August 16, Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot granted sanction to three private individuals to file a police complaint against the CM and others. Siddaramaiah has challenged the sanction order in the Karnataka High Court, which adjourned the matter till August 29 and directed special courts not to conduct further proceedings in private complaints seeking orders for filing FIRs against the CM. The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Thursday unanimously supported Siddaramaiah on the issue. "All our legislators have decided unanimously that they will stand by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Party workers across the state are also standing in solidarity with the CM," Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress chief, said after the meeting. “The high command has not called us but we are going on our own to apprise them of the political developments in Karnataka, " he added. According to Congress insiders, the party has decided to support Siddaramaiah unequivocally and will allow the legal proceedings challenging the sanction and the possible filing of an FIR against the CM to play out before carrying out any intervention, such as a change of guard. The Congress, according to the insiders, may nudge Siddaramaiah to consider leaving his post on his own only when he is halfway through his term after fighting the legal battles that lie ahead. State Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi who is a close associate of Siddaramaiah called on the party to support the CM and suggested that the the BJP could adopt a similar strategy to unseat other strong Congress leaders if the party yields to the efforts to unseat a CM through a Governor. “If you look at the strategy adopted by the BJP around the country in the last 10 years there are many examples of how they go about targeting leaders. Siddaramaiah is one of their targets. We have to fight it legally and politically," Jarkiholi said in Belagavi on August 21. He added, “Ultimately it is the high command that has to decide. If anything happens to Siddaramaiah then the BJP will also target Revanth Reddy in Telangana. He will be given a similar notice (like the show-cause notice to Siddaramaiah that Gehlot issued). He will also have to quit. So, it is necessary that the party high command takes a stand that we will not force our CMs out of office without reason. The high command has already said that it is standing behind Siddaramaiah and this is known at the state level and now this has to be known around the country.” The Congress has been pitching the Governor's sanction as the Centre’s continued efforts to destabilise strong regional leaders who have managed to stall the BJP’s political juggernaut. “We have faith in the judiciary. His (Governor's) order is against the law and the Constitution, we are hopeful that we will get protection from it. There is a conspiracy that has been hatched against our Chief Minister and the government," said Shivakumar, who is the primary challenger to Siddaramaiah in the party for the CM's post. The Congress has used the sanction order to turn the tables on the NDA by carrying out a counter-campaign on the Governor’s alleged delay in granting sanction to prosecute Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) and three BJP leaders despite long pending police requests. Why Congress won’t want a change of guard The Congress is wary of a change of guard as it can upset the caste balance that is in its favour with Siddaramaiah at the helm. Despite the perceived loss of moral ground in the wake of the corruption allegations, Siddaramaiah has strategically played his cards to suggest that the accusations are part of the BJP’s political vendetta against Backward Class leaders. Speaking at an event to mark the birth anniversary event of former Karnataka CM and Backward Class leader Devaraj Urs on August 20, Siddaramaiah said, "I became a minister for the first time in August 1984. It has been 40 years. There is no black mark against me. They have now started efforts to taint me. Even if I have not committed any mistake they are saying that I have committed a mistake. They are saying it daily and demanding that I resign. This is the conspiracy that is underway.” "All those who are deprived of social justice must fight against this conspiracy, all those who have been suppressed and discriminated against must unite to fight this conspiracy. If you do not fight back you will not get justice. The caste system is entrenched and even today efforts are being made to suppress the backward classes . I will not give up the fight for social justice whether I am in power or not. I will not give up the principles that I believe in," Siddaramaiah said. Jarkiholi has suggested that the allegations politically strengthened the CM’s hand in the party rather than weaken him as his rivals in the Opposition and the Congress had intended. The Backward Classes, Dalits, and minorities have been the Congress’s core vote base in Karnataka since the 1970s when Urs steered the party away from a reliance on Lingayats and Vokkaligas, two of the most electorally dominant groups in the state who are now seen as allied with the BJP and JD(S) respectively. There is, however, apprehension in some quarters of the Congress leadership and government about the loss of moral ground because of the crisis. The Congress’s position at present is a far cry from its decision in 2010 when it asked the then Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan to step down on moral grounds after allegations that three of his relatives were beneficiaries of flat allotments in the Adarsh housing scam in Maharashtra. “Where is Ashok Chavan now? He is in the BJP,” a Congress leader said on comparisons between the current Karnataka situation to the 2010 situation in Maharashtra.
