Will caste-based power tussle weaken Congress’ chances?

Sachchidananda Gautam
Bengaluru

With just a week left for Siddaramotsava - an event that will be organised by supporters of former chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah to mark their leader’s 75th birthday (which is also being referred to as Siddaramaiah 75-Amrutha Mahotsava) - senior Congress leaders, who claim to be representatives of particular castes, are busy pushing their claims for the post of chief minister, in case the party comes to power in Karnataka. This has become a real headache for the Congress high command.

Congress leaders, who are opposed to ‘idol worship’, are of the opinion that the event will be used as a platform to declare Siddaramaiah as the next chief minister. While Siddaramaiah claims to enjoy the support of all castes, especially the numerically large AHINDA (Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes and Dalitaru or Dalits) group and is a strong contender for the post of CM, party state president and senior leader D K Shivakumar claims to enjoy the support of the Vokkaliga community, whose vote bank incidentally is divided among three political parties: Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP. Meanwhile, leaders, including M B Patil, who claim to be the true representatives of the powerful Lingayat community, have also staked their claim to the coveted post. Dalit community leaders too have started meeting and discussing their prospects in this ‘caste-based race for the CM’s post.

Dalits have been denied the opportunity of occupying the CM’s post in the post-independent political history of Karnataka. A weighty statement made by former minister and senior leader H C Mahadevappa that the “CM’s is a constitutional post, not a caste-based post”, has not gone down well with feuding Congress leaders.

While, the real fight is between senior leaders, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, two prominent Dalit Congress leaders - Opposition Leader in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge and former Congress president G. Parameshwara - had a closed-door meeting for more than 30 minutes on Sunday. Though Parameshwara described the meeting as a cordial visit to wish the senior leader on his 80th birthday, the meeting raised many eyebrows.

According to sources, the leaders discussed the CM’s post for Dalits and planned to make a tactical move at an appropriate time. The Lingayat community, which is believed to be supporting the BJP, is also trying to push the candidature of former irrigation minister and Congress leader M B Patil, who led a separate Lingayat religion movement. Citing the contribution of Veerendra Patil, who helped Congress garner 176 seats when he headed KPCC, the Lingayats in Congress have decided to make a claim to the post.