Not all happy with DK ‘show’ at padayatra?

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

The non-participation of several senior Congress leaders in the ongoing padayatra 2.0 from Ramanagara to Bengaluru has given rise to a feeling that all is not well in the Congress party.

The enthusiasm with which the first phase of the padayatra was launched from Sangam in Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagar district in January this year to urge the government to construct a balancing reservoir at Mekedatu, seems to have disappeared.

KPCC President D.K. Shivakumar is the architect of the event which is also intended to bulldoze the formidable base of the Janata Dal (Secular) in the Old Mysuru region. Since then, he has taken the lead to lead the yatra and emerge as the undisputed face of the Vokkaligas in the Congress so that he can vie for the CM’s chair .

During the Mekedatu padayatra 1.0, many Congress leaders like R.V. Deshpande, Dr G. Parameshwar, S.R. Patil and H.K.Patil voluntarily participated in the padayatra. Even former CM Siddaramaiah who is a strong contender for the CM post, was forced to take a break in the first round due to fever and has been rubbing shoulders with Shivakumar during Padayatra 2.0. But the other leaders are missing from action maybe because Shivakumar has taken centre stage.

However, a Congress working president, denied anything of this kind and gave an example of how Siddaramaiah stole the show when he walked from Bengaluru to Ballari following the challenge from the Reddy brothers to visit their district a decade ago. At that time, the Kuruba leader took centrestage and walked around 350 km to reach the BJP fortress. That historic march helped Siddaramaiah become CM. Shivakumar too seems eager to emulate the former CM by taking out the padayatra with his fans putting up big cutouts, banners and flex boards. This has not gone down well with other Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Parameshwar, H.K. Patil and M.B. Patil who have been eyeing the CM post for a long time and whose CM dreams have remained unfulfilled.