With five-year CM claim, Siddaramaiah hits reset amid Congress’s OBC push, cornered Shivakumar

His statement came in the wake of the Congress high command intervening to halt a growing feud between the factions of Deputy CM and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar, 61, and the Congress working president from Belagavi, Satish Jarkiholi, the 61-year-old PWD Minister and Siddaramaiah’s ally.

Siddaramaiah’s move to declare that he will be the CM for the full term is seen as a sign of the OBC leader enjoying increasing confidence of the Congress central leadership despite the claims for a mid-term change of guard by the Shivakumar camp. His assertion also came following weeks of an intense face-off between Jarkiholi and Shivakumar.

Jarkiholi was dissuaded by the Congress leadership from taking a group of 20 party MLAs from the Belagavi region on a tour to see the Dasara festivities in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah’s home district, in what was seen as a show of strength as Shivakumar’s supporters issued statements that he will take over as the CM after 30 months.

The Congress leadership had to intervene twice over the last month to curb factional fights, with party general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala and party president Mallikarjun Kharge making visits to the state to hold talks to several leaders.

“There is space for your voice in the party. You can give your suggestions, complaints and opinions to the CM, party president or me inside the party forum, and not publicly,” Surjewala warned factional leaders and their supporters this week.

The standoff between the two Congress groups was seen as a challenge mounted by Jarkiholi, with the possible support of Siddaramaiah, to Shivakumar’s claim to be next in line to be the CM. It was also seen as a consequence of Shivakumar’s insistence on being the sole DCM (Deputy CM) in the Congress government when it was formed in May this year. Siddaramaiah had then wanted three more DCMs to balance caste equations alongside Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, but the latter, who lost out in the CM race, was placated by the leadership by acquiescing to his demand.

Siddaramaiah’s assertion about his continuance as the CM for a full term might be a signal that three more DCMs would be appointed alongside Shivakumar in the coming months. Jarkiholi has said he wants to be a DCM in this term of the Congress government and not the CM. “It is true that I have a desire to become the CM but that is after a few years, not immediately,” he had said ahead of the Dasara festival. “There is a discussion to make three DCMs and not me alone. It has to be discussed. I have not made a claim to be made a DCM. I am a minister and have a big portfolio and this requires a lot of time,” he had said amid speculation that he might even take a group of Congress MLAs on a tour to Dubai.

A Congress MLA K N Rajanna, who is allied to Siddaramaiah and Jarkiholi, had written to the party high command a few months ago, seeking the appointment of three more DCMs to balance castes in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls slated for April-May 2024.

On October 27, Siddaramaiah attended a dinner at the residence of home minister and ex-state party chief G Parameshwara, along with Jarkiholi and social welfare minister H C Mahadevappa. This meeting held in the absence of Shivakumar was significant since Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara have been rivals as the latter was beaten in the race to become the CM in 2013 by Siddaramaiah after losing his own seat despite the Congress winning the then Assembly polls under his leadership.

“The meeting with Parameshwara was a key point in the current developments. The CM is believed to have gained the confidence of Parameshwara amid the internal feud in the party,” an observer said.

Sources in the Congress government said the party is likely to appoint three new DCMs ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, who are expected to be Parameshwara, a Dalit, Satish Jarkiholi, a member of the Scheduled Tribe Valmiki Nayak community, and M B Patil, a Lingayat. This move would put in place a second rung of state Congress leadership in the event of replacement of Siddaramaiah as CM, rather than just banking on Shivakumar alone, who has been facing a CBI probe for alleged corruption in a case dating back to his previous ministerial stint in the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government during 2013-2018. “The move will make Shivakumar less powerful than he is currently as the lone DCM,” sources said.

“The high command will decide on it (appointment of three DCMs). The Congress is not a regional party. It is a national party and any decision that has to be taken will be done only after discussions with the high command. I cannot change anything and the MLAs cannot change anything. It is the high command that will have to decide,” Siddaramaiah said on the issue.

“We have to listen to what the party says and move forward – this is the only thing that I know,” Shivakumar said Friday amid fresh tension in ties with the CM.

Observers say Siddaramaiah is expected to have a full term of five years on account of the Congress’s current OBC outreach, even as the challenges from his state rivals appear to be lacking a groundswell of party support. This is reinforced by the examples from Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where the Congress eventually did not replace Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel as the CMs, respectively, even though they also faced stiff challenges from their rivals.

However, the Congress’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls could also have a bearing on Siddaramaiah’s future, especially in the event of the party high command getting a booster to emerge with the strength to dictate terms to its state units rather than vice versa.

“The people of the state have given us 136 seats (but of 224 seats) in the May Assembly polls. We will provide a stable government for five years. The BJP is feeling shattered. They cannot exist without power. They were successful on one occasion by carrying out Operation Kamala. So they think they can do it again but it is impossible,” Siddaramaiah said.