Over the past two days, the president-designate of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), D.K. Shivakumar, has been meeting senior Congress leaders, seeking their cooperation in his stint, which is likely to start from April. For the former Minister, the biggest challenge will be in taking along different groups and bringing some much-needed coordination in a house divided by caste and regional pulls.
Party sources said that internal power struggles among the groups led by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, former Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, and former Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge had eroded confidence in the grassroots workers to an extent. The fight for the upper hand within the party between the “old guards” and “migrants” is another dimension to the problem.
“For Mr. Shivakumar, the urgent need is to bring the groups together under a collective leadership. Groupism in the party led to the fall of the Janata Dal (S)-Congress coalition. He could have gone alone to Delhi for thanksgiving, but he wants to take all leaders along with him,” a source close to Mr. Shivakumar said. “At a time when the BJP’s infighting could blow out of proportion, an alternative cannot be given unless the Congress is stronger.”
However, it is to be seen how his equations will work out with Mr. Siddaramaiah, who had opposed appointing a KPCC chief from the Old Mysore region. “It was not against Mr. Shivakumar, it was to bring about regional balance as Mr. Siddaramaiah also hails from Old Mysore,” a source close to the former CM said. While initially, Mr. Shivakumar did not like the idea of having four working presidents, a proposal mooted by Mr. Siddaramaiah’s camp, he now will have three working presidents, including Ishwar Khadre, the incumbent.
Old foes
A Vokkaliga member becoming the KPCC president after a gap of two decades is likely to have repercussions for the JD(S), the Congress’ main opponent in Old Mysore region. Though Mr. Shivakumar and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had shown newfound bonhomie after the formation of the JD(S)-Congress coalition, the equation between the two Vokkaliga leaders is likely to change now. The two families had fought bitterly in Ramanagaram since the 1980s, before informally announcing a truce of sorts a couple of years ago.
“The Congress has not had a big leader from the Vokkaliga community after S.M. Krishna. This appointment is likely to bring disenchanted former and sitting Vokkaliga legislators from other parties, especially the JD(S), to Congress,” a party source said. “The chief ministerial ambitions of Mr. Shivakumar are quite clear. In such a case, Vokkaliga votes may get divided in the heartland, which could hurt the JD(S) which derives its strength from there. The more he grows, the more it will affect the JD(S).”
However, a senior JD(S) legislator said that the threat to the party coming from Mr. Shivakumar may not be big, and that the party leadership has not expressed any big worry over this appointment.