Now, caste groups rally behind Siddaramaiah as K’taka CM talk rages on

Bengaluru: In a fresh twist to the ongoing power struggle in Karnataka, caste groups backing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar on Thursday threw their weight behind them, with one warning Congress against unseating the incumbent CM while the other community strongly batted for Shivakumar’s elevation.

As the pressure builds up over the Congress high command to put an end to the tussle, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said he will have a meeting with select leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and the Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar duo to resolve the matter.

Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra, meanwhile, said there was no reason for his father to quit mid-way through the five year term as he was delivering good administration without any charges against him, and also enjoyed the support of party MLAs.

Party senior and Home minister G Parameshwara, who is also in the CM race, expressed confidence the party high command will resolve the matter in a week. He, however, assured to serve the people and also live up to Congress ideology if he is entrusted with the top post considering his experience and skill.

While an AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalit communities) group warned the Congress of implications if Siddaramaiah was forced to make way for his deputy, a Vokkaliga body said no injustice should be meted out to Shivakumar.

The AHINDA is Siddaramaiah’s core constituency, while Shivakumar, also the Congress state president, belongs to the dominant agrarian community of Vokkaligas that has seen Kengal Hanumanthaiah, K C Reddy, HD Deve Gowda, SM Krishna, Sadananda Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy occupy the state’s top post.

Karnataka Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha warned the Congress high command that it will fight vehemently if injustice happens to Shivakumar, who is aspiring to become CM.

“During the assembly election, Shivakumar had toiled hard, toured across the state, strengthened the organisation and due to his efforts the Congress got 140 seats and won the polls,” Sangha president L Srinivas said at a press conference here.

Referring to the rumoured power-sharing agreement of 2023, he said there are doubts whether Siddaramaiah will transfer power to Shivakumar.

“We from Vokkaliga Sangha request the Congress high command to at least give ‘Coolie’ (a token of reward) to Shivakumar for the efforts he has put in.”

Srinivas said the Deputy CM had also spent time in jail for the party. “No injustice should happen to the disciplined soldier of the Congress party. We from Vokkaliga Sangha on behalf of the Vokkaliga pontiffs assert that we will vehemently fight if injustice happens to Shivakumar,” he said. Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Federation of Backward Class Communities (KSFBCC) backed Siddaramaiah.

Any attempt to unseat the veteran leader will have a bearing on the party, it said.

KSFBCC president K M Ramachandrappa said AHINDA is deeply pained to see the developments taking place. He said even religious heads are participating in this discussion.