MYSURU: The appointment of Congress leader DK Shivakumar as president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) is significant for both the Congress and JDS. If it is a boon to the state Congress, it may spell doom for the JDS, which is increasingly facing a dismal political future. With the rise of the Vokkaliga leader, the JDS will be pitched directly against the Congress to fight for community votes in Old Mysuru belt.

The Congress high command, which has realised that it cannot cut into the Lingayat vote share till BS Yediyurappa is at the helm in BJP, is trying to please Vokkaligas, the other dominant community in the state. In 2000, prominent Vokkaliga leader SM Krishna was appointed KPCC chief over another veteran MV Rajashekaramurthy. Krishna’s Panchajanya Yatra paid rich dividends as old Mysuru rallied behind him and he went on to become the chief minister. Now it is the turn of Shivakumar to win over the community that has been supporting the JDS for over a decade. An astute politician, Shivakumar had set aside his long-standing differences with JDS leaders HD Deve Gowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy during the previous 14-month Congress-JDS government.

But the bitterness could soon be back as Shivakumar and the Gowda family will fight for the same vote base in the same region. Shivakumar’s appointment three years ahead of Assembly polls gives him enough time to win over the community. If he manages to work well with senior and mid-rung party leaders, he could bring Ahinda and minority communities too on board to put up a fight against the BJP.

“He should try to tap Lingayat votes too and counter the Modi wave in the state. Working hand in hand with Siddaramaiah (Congress Legislature Party leader), he should project Congress as a party that can come back to power,” said political commentator Prof Muzaffar Asadi.