Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s loyalist and Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna’s proposal of having three more Deputy Chief Ministers in the Congress government in Karnataka appears to be a move to checkmate Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is positioning himself as the successor to Mr. Siddaramaiah.
Besides being State Congress president, Mr. Shivakumar’s steady rise in the government by holding plum portfolios of Bengaluru Development and Water Resources and his “domineering attitude” in officials’ meetings has not gone down well with loyalists of the Chief Minister, it is learnt.
Moreover, Mr. Shivakumar holding many meetings with VIPs and corporate leaders to discuss issues of governance too have reportedly irked some seniors in the government. As the KPCC president, Mr. Shivakumar’s decision to induct some of the BJP and JD(S) leaders into the party, without consultation, too seems to have rattled a few party leaders, sources in the party maintained.
After Hariprasad’s attack
Mr. Rajanna’s idea, which was sparked off within a week after veteran leader and MLC B.K. Hariprasad’s veiled attack against Mr. Siddaramaiah, is largely seen as a “speed breaker” to Mr. Shivakumar in party circles.
Mr. Hariprasad, seen as a loyalist of the State Congress chief, lashed out at the Chief Minister at a OBC rally in Bengaluru on September 9, apparently for denying him a ministerial berth and denying the Deputy Chief Minister’s post to Dalit and Muslim legislators.
Moreover, Mr. Rajanna mooted the proposal at a time when senior leaders were at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Counter by CM camp
The Chief Minister, who was at loggerheads with Mr. Shivakumar before the formation of the government on the Chief Minister’s chair, appears to have “deployed” Mr. Rajanna to publicly announce the proposal on appointing Deputy Chief Ministers.
Mr. Rajanna on Friday said he would write to the Congress high command on appointing Deputy Chief Ministers from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat, SC/ST, and minority communities to enlarge the party’s vote bank ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Minister’s idea comes despite the party high command’s decision soon after the 2023 Assembly elections that Mr. Shivakumar will be the only Deputy Chief Minister. Then Mr. Shivakumar had strongly opposed the appointment of more than one Deputy Chief Minister.
Given Mr. Rajanna’s closeness with the Chief Minister, it is being viewed as the Siddaramaiah faction’s move to rein in Mr. Shivakumar’s “dominance” in the government and the party. The creation of three more Deputy Chief Ministers would place Mr. Shivakumar in parallel with other Deputy Chief Ministers, which is not a constitutional post. Mr. Rajanna also went on to say that Mr. Siddaramaiah would continue for the full five-year term.
History of Dy.CMs
Earlier, for the first time, Karnataka had three Deputy Chief Ministers in the B.S. Yediyurappa-led government in 2019. Govind Karjol, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, and Laxman Savadi (now Congress MLA) belonging to Dalit, Vokkaliga, and Lingayat communities, respectively, served as the Deputy Chief Ministers. In the BJP government led by Jagadish Shettar (now Congress MLC) in 2012, there were two Deputy Chief Ministers (K.S. Eshwarappa and R. Ashok).
