Post-stampede, Delhi heat awaits Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar on Capital visit

Above all is the simmering rivalry between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, with the latter – who is also the state Congress chief – pushing the leadership to hand him the reins of the state following the completion of two years of governance by Siddaramaiah on May 20.

However, the June 3 stampede tragedy, for which the BJP and JD(S) have held both the Congress leaders responsible, has put Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in a weaker position in any bargain with the Congress high command.

The CM and Deputy CM are expected to meet senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretaries. “The high command may ask about this incident (stampede). The high command has a responsibility to ensure that this does not happen in the future,” Karnataka Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi said Monday on Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar’s Delhi visit.

One of the primary reasons the two are on the defensive is the fact that both were virtually vying with each other for limelight following the IPL final victory of the RCB, a privately owned team. Siddaramaiah, a cricket enthusiast, cleared a felicitation for the players a day after the title win on the premises of the Vidhana Soudha, and made a call on social media for the people to participate.

Shivakumar, in turn, was at the forefront of the RCB cavalcade from the airport and also attended a felicitation at the Chinnaswamy Stadium where the stampede occurred. He was in his home town Kanakapura and rushed to Bengaluru to be present at the June 4 felicitation events.

The Opposition has alleged that the stampede deaths were a result of the broken systems in the state government due to such jostling for power and authority between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.

“It pains me to say this, but we have a CM who is inactive. He has no control over the Deputy CM. As for the Home Minister (G Parameshwara)… he only obeys commands,” Union minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said after the stampede.

Siddaramaiah’s decision to sack his political secretary K Govindaraju was seen as a damage control exercise. A sports administrator, Govindaraju is reported to have played a key role in the decision to host two felicitations for the RCB team on June 4. With the cricket franchise posting social media messages regarding this even before official clearances were granted, thousands poured into the heart of Bengaluru, triggering the stampede.

Kumaraswamy said: “On Tuesday night (June 3), the team won the IPL trophy. What was the rush to organise a felicitation event immediately?… Everyone knows the role the Deputy CM played in all this.”

In his defence, an emotional Shivakumar told reporters after the stampede deaths that the fans had descended to the felicitation site as they were “euphoric” after RCB’s first IPL title in 18 years of the league.

With Shivakumar also the minister in-charge of Bengaluru, the CM has claimed that senior city police officers had not kept him in the loop about decisions on the RCB event at the cricket stadium, where the stampede occurred. “They did not inform me. Is it not a serious thing?” Siddaramaiah said this week.

The government order suspending five police officers, including Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda, says Dayananda in particular should have told the organisers in writing that permission could not be granted for the felicitation “on the grounds of lack of time to prepare for such a huge event”. “As a result, the situation went out of control and brought a lot of misery, loss of precious life and embarrassment to the government.”

Congress minister Satish Jarkiholi admitted that the stampede issue showed “there has been a failure” and that it had become a “source of tension for us”. “Until the issue of who is responsible for the stampede is settled, there will be unease.”

However, he added that it did not mean the CM or others had to resign. “There will be a report in 15 days and then the people will know what happened… There have been incidents in previous governments as well but there have been no resignations,” Jarkiholi said.

The stampede came at a time when Shivakumar was pressing for appointment as CM, replacing Siddaramiah, though he was rebuffed on this by two AICC general secretaries recently. He was reportedly opposing any Cabinet expansion by Siddaramaiah as well. In recent days, Shivakumar had tried to mend fences with Karnataka Home Minister and key Dalit leader Parameshwara, another aspirant to the CM’s post, after embarrassing him with remarks about an expensive gift given to an actress arrested for gold smuggling.

Siddaramaiah, who has denied any deal at the time of Congress government formation of him making way for Shivakumar after two-and-a-half years in power, has said it is up to the party leadership to take a call, but has hinted that he would at the least like to hold power till early next year and become the longest-serving Karnataka CM after Devaraj Urs (who was in the post for seven years and 238 days).

Siddaramaiah too has been trying to build bridges, and recently paid a surprise visit to senior AICC leader B K Hariprasad, a former critic who has a good say in party matters in Delhi. The ostensible reason was a discussion on communal tensions in the coastal region of Dakshina Kannada from where Hariprasad hails. But there was soon talk that Hariprasad, who is an OBC community member like Siddaramaiah, was being considered for a post in a Cabinet reshuffle.

The Congress needs to manage OBC anger after a recent caste survey put Kurubas, the community to which Siddaramaiah belongs, far ahead of other backward groups in numbers and backwardness, and hence, eligible for enhanced quota benefits.

There is also brewing Dalit anger, with activist Bhaskar Prasad travelling around the state accusing the Siddaramaiah government of neglecting the Dalits and of delaying the implementation of internal quotas, as sought by the Madigas. A government-ordered survey of SC communities to provide internal quotas is still in the works.

However, the Congress leadership, while reportedly disappointed with the Karnataka government, may not be keen on an overhaul, with Siddaramaiah emerging as a leader with influence across the state, including among Muslims. But the stadium stampede gives it an upper hand in forcing some changes, including greater division of authority between Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and others.

A leader associated with the Congress stressed on the need to resolve the crisis in the party. “The Congress in Karnataka has gone from being the custodian of social justice to an executor of caste calculations. Instead of bold leadership, we see backroom bargaining. Instead of unity, division. Instead of a vision, confusion.”