Don’t project me as CM face: Siddaramaiah to Cong MLAs

Bengaluru Amid growing fissures within the Congress over the chief ministerial face for the 2023 assembly polls, senior party leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday requested legislators not to give any statements projecting him as the future chief minister of Karnataka

Bengaluru Amid growing fissures within the Congress over the chief ministerial face for the 2023 assembly polls, senior party leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday requested legislators not to give any statements projecting him as the future chief minister of Karnataka.

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In a statement on Thursday, the leader of the opposition requested his party legislators not to say “the future chief minister Siddaramaiah”. He added that there are still two years left for elections and that legislators should not make statements on who the next chief minister will be.

The statements come at a time when nearly a dozen Congress legislators have openly endorsed Siddaramaiah as the future chief minister, irking party president DK Shivakumar and other senior leaders who also believe they are in contention for the top job. A video also surfaced on Thursday, where another Congress MLA Byrathi Suresh from Hebbal constituency can be purportedly heard addressing Siddaramaiah as a “permanent CM”.

The statements come despite directives not to do so by Shivakumar and the national leadership of the party, including Randeep Singh Surjewala, several party legislators in Karnataka continued to make statements projecting Siddaramaiah as the next chief minister.

Siddaramaiah is among the most powerful leaders within the Congress and Shivakumar among others have challenged the former’s dominance over party affairs ever since he joined them in 2006.

Siddaramaiah is one of the handful of chief ministers in Karnataka’s history to complete a full-five year term in office from 2013-18.

The Sonia Gandhi-led party has seen its top leaders in at least three states--Rajasthan, Punjab and Karnataka--quarrel among themselves and dent its chances against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its principal rival political outfit in India.

The infighting within the Congress in Karnataka has denied them the opportunity to capitalise on the increasing dissent and discord within the state unit of the BJP.

Interestingly, several BJP legislators from Karnataka have made open calls for the removal of BS Yediyurappa as chief minister unlike the situation in the Congress where party MLAs have openly endorsed Siddaramaiah for the top chair.

Like Shivakumar, several senior leaders like G Parameshwara, Mallikarjuna Kharge among a host of others hone similar ambitions.

Parameshwara on Thursday said that this discussion needed to end here as the party high command will decide who will become chief minister once the party secures a majority in the 2023 assembly polls.

Downplaying the ongoing rift within the party, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, the legislator from Varuna and the opposition leader’s son on Thursday said, “In every party leaders express their personal opinion but this does not mean that they cannot stand each other or have differences.” He said that the Congress is united and will face the elections together. “When it comes to the party, whatever the president says is final,” he said, not being dragged into a debate that has raised several questions and troubles for the Congress.

Notwithstanding its own troubles, the BJP too has joined in the debate to further pile on the Congress and its current predicament.

R Ashok, senior BJP legislator and minister for revenue, on Thursday said that there are factions like D-Congress and S-Congress coming up within the party, inferring the groups under Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.

“This is Congress’s internal matter. They have a high command which has become weak. Since the high command has become weak, such problems are cropping up,” Ashok said.

He added that the Congress high command cannot even say if Siddaramaiah will be their chief ministerial candidate or not unlike the BJP where the national leadership have made it clear that Yediyurappa will continue in the top post.

Lashing out at BJP, Shivakumar said that the party should first sort out its own mess than point fingers at others.

“We have seen even the people who lose the elections also become a CM of the state. Not only the 224 elected members can become CM, others too can. Our state has seen such things in the past. Shri Devraj Urs and Shri Ramakrishna Hegde had become CM’s even after losing and not contesting elections,” Shivakumar said, trying to make light of a development that has undermined his authority within the party.