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Leaders of various caste groups eye more dyCM posts
After Siddaramaiah was announced as the next CM of Karnataka and Shivakumar as his deputy, voices started emerging over some other communities not being accommodated as dyCMs.
As the Congress announced Siddaramaiah as next chief minister of Karnataka and only one deputy CM, DK Shivakumar, voices started emerging from within the party over some other communities not being accommodated as deputy chief ministers. Siddaramaiah is a Kuruba, a backward class community and Shivakumar is a Vokkaliga, and both are from southern parts of the state.
MB Patil a prominent Congress leader of the Lingayat community said that the community has aspirations for a deputy chief minister post and he will pursue the matter with the high command on behalf of them. “There is an aspiration among the community that Lingayat deputy chief minister should be appointed. The matter is still with the Congress’s high command. We will convince the high command in due time,” he said.
The Congress outperformed the BJP and JD(S) on the winning rate for candidates from the Lingayat community. Of the 51 Lingayat candidates of the Congress, 38 won, compared with 18 of the 68 fielded by the BJP, a party which considers the community its core vote base.
The strike rate of the Congress for Lingayats was second best for the party after scheduled tribes, whose 15 of the 17 candidates won. Of the 44 Lingayats fielded by the JD(S), only two won. Most of the Congress Lingayat candidates won from northern parts of Karnataka.
Patil added that there is no contest from the party for the post of chief minister, “Lingayat’s chief minister is difficult because Siddaramaiah is a senior leader and he is popular among the MLAs and people. We are still hopeful that a Lingayat, Dalit and Muslim law-makers will be made deputy CMs. We will take it up with the party high command,” he added.
Dalit leader and former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, who submitted the letter for forming the government to governor Thwarchand Gehlot, said that even after that 75 years of Independence the aspirations of the Dalit community have not been fulfilled.
Speaking outside the Raj Bhavan, Parameshwara said that all seniors leaders must get appropriate chance. “Even I was a chief minister and deputy CM aspirant. But, the high command has taken a decision, let’s see what happens during the cabinet formation,” he said.
“Siddaramaiah has become the chief minister twice in our party, he must take us into confidence and go forward. Dalits have high ambitions from the party and they must understand this or else naturally there will be a reaction from the community,” he said.
Hours before the party’s official announcement, to a question about Shivakumar having allegedly put a condition to the leadership that he should be the only dyCM, Parameshwara had said: “What he has said might be right in Shivakumar’s point of view, but high command’s viewpoint should be different. High command has to decide, whether injustice has been done to Dalits by not giving a DCM post to the community.”
“Understanding these expectations, our leadership will have to make a decision. If it doesn’t happen, naturally there will be reactions to it. There is no need for me to say it. Instead of realising it later, if they rectify it now it will be better. Or else it may cause trouble for the party. I would like to tell them to understand it,” Parameshwara said.
Satish Jarkiholi, ST leader, who played a role in ensuring the party’s victory in the Belagavi district, which has the second largest number of constituencies after Bengaluru, said he would abide by the decision taken by the party. “A letter has to go from the CLP on how many ministers should be made and who should be made etc. When that letter goes, I expect a call would come. I don’t have any expectations but a ministry where I can work for people, I will be more than happy,” said Jarkiholi. He had earlier lobbied for the post of deputy chief minister from northern Karnataka, where the Congress performance was best in the state.
The BJP claimed that for the first time there will be no representation from the all-powerful Lingayat community or the SCs. “For the first time, Karnataka will have a government that doesn’t represent either sub-regional aspirations or for that matter prominent communities. Both CM designate Siddaramaiah and to be deputy CM Shivakumar come from south Karnataka. For the first time there will be no representation from the all-powerful Lingayat community or the SCs,” BJP IT cell chief Amit Malaviya tweeted.
Unlike the 2013 election, where the party won with the backing of the Ahinda (minorities, backward classes and Dalits), in 2023 Congress had received support from several communities including Lingayats and Vokkaligas, the two dominant communities.
