Congress high command throws its weight behind Siddaramaiah: Why Karnataka CM’s position in party is secure

The Governor’s move has come at a time when the Congress in Karnataka is facing a fresh factional tug of war. But the Siddaramaiah camp believes the attacks against him by the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Governor’s move have pushed the leadership into backing him completely. With the Congress gearing up for Assembly elections in four states, they believe the leadership will have no choice but to defend him and try and weather the storm for the time being.

But all is not well in the Karnataka Congress. Coinciding with the Opposition’s attacks on Siddaramaiah were calls from a section of the Karnataka Congress to replace Shivakumar as state Congress president, a post he has been holding for the past four years, and the appointment of more Deputy CMs to placate influential communities. The Shivakumar camp believes the demands have the blessings of the CM. On the other hand, there have been demands to elevate Shivakumar as the CM.

The Governor’s move has come amid this sense of disquiet within the Congress. Sources in Delhi said there was no question of replacing Siddaramaiah now. Party leaders pointed out that Siddaramaiah is one of the popular Backward Class faces of the party and replacing him at a time when the party is aggressively playing the OBC political card could politically backfire. Siddaramaiah belongs to the Kuruba community, one of the largest OBC groups in the state. Moreover, the Siddaramaiah government has just completed a year in office.

The signal from the party is that it will play the backward card to politically counter the allegations against Siddaramaiah. Defending the CM, the high command on Saturday said that the case was an attempt to target a CM who is from a Backward Class. Defending the CM, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala said the Governor’s action was a “conspiracy against the poor, the backward, the SC/ST and the marginalized sections by the BJP and the Modi Government”.

“In a brazen political conspiracy hatched in the corridors of PMO and the Home Ministry in Delhi against the people of Karnataka and its elected Government, the ‘puppet Governor of Karnataka’ has proceeded to grant prosecution sanction against the Chief Minister by dancing to the tune of his political masters. The decision is an act of shameless unconstitutionality by the Governor, who is hell-bent upon bulldozing the law and the Constitution to carry further BJP’s conspiracy,” Surjewala said.

He added, “The Machiavellian conspiracy of the PMO/Home Ministry/BJP leaders has three facets:— Try to steal the vote and the mandate of the people of Karnataka, decisively given in favour of the Congress party, by using the office of a ragdoll Governor, attack the Congress Government in order to accomplish the BJP’s evil design to stop the five Congress guarantees, benefitting over five crore Kannadigas and attack the Backward Class/SC/ST and marginalised sections by a fabricated design to tarnish the image of India’s senior-most backward class Chief Minister.

“Such fabricated and manufactured conspiracies will get shredded to pieces in the people’s court….We shall fight the battle legally as also in the court of the people of Karnataka and the country,” he said. Surjewala alleged that the Governor, by colluding with a complainant, had “brought huge disregard and infamy to his own Constitutional position in the process”.