A New Year dinner meeting of a select group of ministers in the Congress government in Karnataka, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, at a time when Deputy Chief Minister, state Congress chief and chief challenger to the CM's post, D K Shivakumar, is away on a foreign tour, has stirred the political pot again in the state. The meeting held on January 2 at the residence of Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi, a close associate of Siddaramaiah, was the latest in a series of similar meetings held by a group of ministers hailing mostly from backward communities. The meetings of senior ministers belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and OBC communities – who form the bulwark of the Congress’s support base in Karnataka with minorities – are seen as efforts to counter the dominance of Shivakumar in the Karnataka Congress and come at a time when when the deputy CM has been on an ascendancy. They are also being seen as a reminder to the Congress that leaders who hold the key to the main support base of the party must not be short changed while placating Shivakumar, who is yet to emerge as a strong leader in his Vokkaliga community – a dominant caste in southern Karnataka. For the second time since October 2023, Siddaramaiah, an OBC Kuruba community leader himself, was a part of the dinner meetings, indicating his open support for the grouping. The October 2023 meeting was held at the residence of Home Minister G Parameshwara. The group again met for the New Year in January last year at Jarkiholi’s residence. While Shivakumar has not been a part of any of the meetings of the Siddaramaiah camp, the latest meeting was held while he is away in Turkey for a family holiday. The latest meeting also comes four months after Siddaramaiah found himself embroiled in the controversy related to the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam. Fighting the allegations in courts since August 2024, and returning 14 housing sites allotted to his wife by the MUDA in 2021, Siddaramaiah has appeared politically combative and likely to resist any extraneous efforts to depose him from the CM's post. The Congress’s wins in the three Assembly bypolls of November – where the party’s traditional support base of minorities, backward classes and SC/ST communities rallied behind the party – has also provided Siddaramaiah's leadership with a shot in the arm. The CM however attempted to play down the significance of the meeting and suggested that the leaders met "only to have food". "There is no need to assume that the meetings are of political significance," he said Friday and also denied suggestions that discussions regarding the change of CM or changes in the Cabinet took place. Transport Minister and senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy said the meeting was of “like-minded people”. “I was not invited and in any case my loyalty is with the ideals of the Congress party," he said. However, sources said that one of the issues discussed during the meeting was the possible replacement of Shivakumar as the state Congress chief. Several ministers of the Siddaramaiah camp were ready to take up the mantle but reportedly have sought time, with some of them suggesting that their ministerial berths must be retained. The Opposition BJP has attacked the Congress over the meeting. "Shivakumar, it is time to implement the plan you bragged about that you will kick your way to power," the BJP leader of opposition R Ashok mocked on X, referring to the deputy CM’s statement that his mentor and former Karnataka CM, S M Krisha, who passed away last month, had once told him that he must use force to gain power if it remained elusive in the normal course. In recent months, Shivakumar has suggested that a power sharing deal had been worked out by the Congress leadership between him and Siddaramaiah when the Congress government was formed in June 2023, a claim that Siddaramaiah has refuted saying "there is no agreement". Siddaramaiah who is now 76 years old and seen to be in his last term as CM, has also suggested on occasions that he would be the CM for a full tenure. Parameshwara, who is also seen as an aspirant for the CM's post, has also said that any decision on leadership change will be taken by the party leadership. "If there was any agreement (between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar) why should we all be there? Let them both decide everything," Parameshwara had said last month. One of the main political undercurrents in Karnataka since the Congress party won a thumping majority in the 2023 Assembly polls has been the rivalry between its two main leaders Siddaramaiah – who became the CM for the second time – and Shivakumar who was made his deputy. Shivakumar's strong push for the CM's post soon after the election victory even as the Congress high command preferred to place its bets on the more popular Siddaramaiah indicated that the new Congress government would hit pockets of turbulence in the course of its five-year tenure despite winning 135 of the 224 seats in the polls. Many senior ministers in the state government are believed to have not taken kindly to Shivakumar's assertions in 2023 to be made the sole deputy CM after he was denied the CM's post - even as CM Siddaramaiah pitched for multiple deputies from the caste spectrum which supports the Congress in Karnataka. Since the formation of the Congress government Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have overtly conveyed a message of unity and coordination despite the apparent political undercurrents over the contest for the CM's post. Even as the MUDA allegations gained pace, Shivakumar had said that he would "stand like a rock" with the CM.
