Siddu, loyalists to visit Delhi after Assembly elections

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and ministers in his camp are all said to have planned a trip to New Delhi to speak with the Congress high command after the Delhi Assembly elections. The state will go to polls on February 5 and the results will be declared on February 8.

Siddaramaiah and co are likely to raise issues such as power sharing, appointment of a new Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, expansion of the Karnataka Cabinet and the internal friction that has gone with these bones of contention. The meeting is likely to be attended by All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, a Karnataka native, and AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Tussle for CM seat: In May 2023, the party state unit Chief DK Shivakumar accepted the Deputy CM’s post only because he was promised a promotion in the second half of the five-year term. The AICC leadership had promised Shivakumar that he’d head the government for the latter two-and-a-half years. Siddaramaiah had won the support of some 100 of the 135 MLAs in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held on May 14, 2023, making him the popular choice for CM.

Shivakumar accepted this reality but insisted in public that all 135 MLAs were elected under his leadership as the KPCC president. He became Siddaramaiah’s deputy provided he didn’t share the post with anyone else. Moreover, Shivakumar retained choice portfolios like Bengaluru Development and Large and Medium Irrigation. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar also fought tooth and nail to get their loyalists named to the Cabinet.

At loggerheads again: Internal friction in the Congress reemerged in January first week as Surjewala forced a postponement of a meeting of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) ministers slated to be held at Home Minister G Parameshwara’s residence. They purportedly wanted to scuttle Shivakumar’s CM ambitions and promote Parameshwara as the next head of government.

Not long after, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi demanded Shivakumar be replaced as the KPCC president as it was long overdue. Surjewala dismissed the notion, adding that Shivakumar would remain state Congress Chief, leading Siddaramaiah loyalists to demand Surjewala’s replacement behind closed doors.