Congress leaders rally around Siddaramaiah

BENGALURU: On Tuesday, in the span of 12 hours, four senior Congress leaders from the state spoke out in favour of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The leader, who attracts a cult following, had three ministers and an ‘unhappy’ MLA pledge their support to him.‘Siddaramaiah is our leader,’ parroted Home minister M B Patil, Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar, Forest Minister Satish Jarkiholi and MLA Dr Sudhakar, leaving many wondering at this sudden show of public support for Siddaramaiah and
if was targeted at someone specific.

While there are no clear answers for these statements and their timing, one can look at the recent past, where just before the run-up to the elections, another group of Congress leaders, M T B Nagaraj, Puttaranga Shetty and BDA member ST Somashekar had said these very lines causing ally HD Kumaraswamy to sulk.  

According to BS Murthy, political analyst, Siddaramaiah was the rallying point for Karnataka leaders. “He is the biggest uniting force in Congress, JDS depended on his support to get through key seats. Because of JDS cornering three seats for family it adversely affected the stature of both H D Kumaraswamy and H D Deve Gowda. Congress sees Siddaramaiah as a strong force.”

Political observer Harish Bijoor opined, “It also helps keep a clean dividing line of leadership between the JDS and the Congress. The Congress needs this. It cannot look like many Congress factions in the state. It needs to look quite like one Congress under Siddaramaiah.

Remember, the JDS is one under the Gowdas!.”

However, a source in the party had a slightly different version. “He is the one calling the shots in the Congress and the government. It is essential to keep him in good humour to get any post of importance. They know that if they say these things it pleases him,” the source said.

Brother has shown cheap mentality: Satish Targeting his brother and disgruntled Gokak MLA Ramesh, Satish Jarkiholi said, “He has shown his cheap mentality by taking action against Congress party workers. I heard that Ambirao Patil, brother-in-law of Ramesh is behind these activities. He will have to pay for it,” the minister said.