Bengaluru: After the announcement of Chief Minister candidate there was disappointment among Congress workers in D. K. Shivakumara’s home town Kanakapura. The KPCC Working President Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga Leader who strove hard to build the party insisted the High Command to become Chief Minister of state. But gave up after High Command persuaded him.
There is a reason behind Shivakumar’s claim that he should become the Chief Minister this time. In 2013, Congress came to power with clear majority and Siddaramaiah became the Chief Minister. Shivakumar was not inducted into the Cabinet after alleging that he had caused loss to Mysore Minerals in the case of illegal mining. He was ambitious to join the Cabinet, and he had put many kinds of pressure.
Siddaramaiah, who had a close relationship with Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi, had a strong hold on the party. When Siddaramaiah left Karnataka Bhavan by car during his visit to Delhi, Shivakumar, who met him, asked him, ‘When will Cabinet induction be? Not now. Let’s see after the Lok Sabha elections are over,’ and left from there. Shivakumar, who was said to be angry with this negligence, was quiet then.
JD (S) leader H. D. Kumaraswamy and N. Cheluvarayaswamy who were elected as Members of Parliament, resigned as MPs. Thus, a by-election to the Lok Sabha was imminent. The elections for these two constituencies were held in August 2013. Shivakumar was In-Charge of election for both constituencies. In Bengaluru Rural D. K. Suresh had won, while Ramya in Mandya.
Shivakumar’s wish was not fulfilled even after the election results. The threat of Lok Sabha elections was put forward. Shivakumar, who fell into the limelight, joined the Cabinet in June 2014 after being directed by senior AICC leaders. He was also successful in-charge of by-elections held later.
Shivakumar, who was in the situation of getting a ministerial position after putting pressure to High Command, has now grown his influence in the party to such an extent that he will not give up the post of Chief Minister to Siddaramaiah for any reason. In 2017, elections were held to elect Rajya Sabha members from the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Amit Shah, who was then BJP President, had devised a strategy to defeat Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s private secretary Ahmed Patel. At that time, when 42 MLAs were sent to Bengaluru, the party entrusted Shivakumar with the responsibility of their protection and care. He handled it competently. From there, Shivakumar, who was impressed by Sonia, continued to gain control over the party.
Looking at Shivakumar’s current mood, it seems that he was determined to teach a lesson to Siddaramaiah, who ignored him a decade ago and to give him a ministerial berth. Siddaramaiah, who joined the Congress in 2006, has been the leader of the legislative party from 2009 to 2023. He was also the leader of the Legislative Party along with the Coordination Committee during the coalition government. He has been the Leader of the Opposition for eight years and the Chief Minister for five years. He has also put forward the argument that he should give up power this time.
Though both have rift Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar have been pretending that they are united since they started preparing for the Assembly elections. At the ‘Sidda Ramotsava’ held in Davangere, Rahul Gandhi had suggested both to embrace rach other and show unity. Thus, both of them showed that there is no difference on the stage itself. During the election, the party had released photos of both together. They did pilgrimages together. As polling drew nearer, the party had released videos of the two in conversation with each other.