As Siddaramaiah plans legal battle, succession talks begin in Karnataka Congress

A day later, three other ministers, including Parameshwara, Public Works Department Minister Satish Jarkiholi, and Social Welfare Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa held a separate meeting. According to Congress insiders, both gatherings are widely being seen as discussions on the succession question between those considered the favourites to become CM if Siddaramaiah has to give up his chair.

Shivakumar’s aspiration to become the CM is well known. Last year, when the Congress returned to power in the state, he had pushed to take the top job but the Congress high command went for Siddaramaiah. However, the Shivakumar camp at the time claimed that the understanding reached was that it was a power-sharing agreement, with Siddaramaiah ceding control after two or three years.

By meeting Parameshwara, who is seen as someone recently inching towards the Siddaramaiah camp, Shivakumar is learnt to have sought support to stake claim as CM if such a situation arose, said Congress insiders. He is learnt to have promised Parameshwara a Deputy CM berth and the much sought-after Bengaluru Development portfolio if he backs him to be the CM. Parameshwara who is from a Scheduled Caste (SC) community is also an aspirant for the top job. He was the Deputy CM in the short-lived Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government that came to power after the 2018 elections. Shivakumar who lost out last year because he could not muster the support of enough MLAs is said to be meeting party legislators to get their support if he makes a move for the top job.

But Siddaramaiah, according to Congress sources, is likely to throw his weight behind either Mahadevappa or Jarkiholi. While Mahadevappa is a Dalit, Jarkiholi is from a Scheduled Tribe (ST) community. The CM, according to some Congress insiders, wants a Dalit to succeed him. If it happens, Karnataka will get its first Dalit CM.

However, publicly all these leaders maintained that the meetings were not on the question of succession but about official government and party business. After the Monday meeting, Shivakumar maintained that he and Parameshwara discussed the Yettinahole project, the first phase of which was inaugurated last month.

Jarkiholi on Wednesday told reporters that they had discussed political developments during the meeting. “That does not mean it was a meeting regarding a race for CM… We discussed everything except the CM’s post,” he added.

Over the past few days, Siddaramaiah has held multiple meetings with his Cabinet colleagues. The discussions are learnt to have largely revolved around the legal measures required to tackle the cases filed against the CM.

After the ED booked Siddaramaiah, the Congress central leadership has signalled it will continue to back the embattled CM and fight the case politically. Sources in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) have maintained that the case against Siddaramaiah is nothing but a political witch hunt and that senior state Congress leaders, despite the bitter factional feud, are behind Siddaramaiah. Sources have said there is no question of asking Siddaramaiah to step down as he 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 Karnataka.