Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar hint at race for CM candidate

On Sunday, at an event to mark Kanakadasa Jayanti in Bengaluru, Hebbal MLA Byrathi Suresh, a close associate of Siddaramaiah, declared the Congress Legislature Party leader as the “next CM”. The announcement came in the presence of Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Despite the party high command’s orders to refrain from an open discussion on chief ministerial candidates, a supporter of Siddaramaiah declared the Congress leader as the next CM candidate and Karnataka Pradesh Congress president DK Shivakumar hinted at his claim for the top job at a Vokkaliga community meeting.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress president DK Shivakumar said a Vokkaliga has become the KPCC president again, after SM Krishna. (ANI)

“The (Vokkaliga) community has a great opportunity this time that shouldn’t be lost,” DK Shivakumar said at a meeting of Vokkaligas convened to discuss the community’s reservation demand on Sunday. “If the community gives me a pen and paper, I will do all the work that needs to be done.”

Shivakumar pointed out that a Vokkaliga has become the KPCC president again, after SM Krishna. “The community was with me during my toughest times. I am grateful to this community,” he said. “The party has recognised me and made me the state’s party president. Even in the BJP, some have been made ministers and we should remember that,” he added.

On Sunday, at an event to mark Kanakadasa Jayanti in Bengaluru, Hebbal MLA Byrathi Suresh, a close associate of Siddaramaiah, declared the Congress Legislature Party leader as the “next CM”. The announcement came in the presence of Siddaramaiah.

The development comes after the party had asked both leaders to work together. With only a few months left for the 2023 elections in Karnataka, the local unit of Congress has been planning to take out a bus rally across the state in an effort to gather more support. The move was announced on the heels of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.

However, the Congress high command ruled against the proposed plan for Shivkumar and Siddaramaiah to travel separately.

The initial plan of the KPCC was to divide the constituencies in the state between the KPCC president and former chief minister, with one covering the northern regions and the other the southern districts. However, two senior Congress leaders, who are privy to the details of the recent meetings, said that now a decision has been taken that both the leaders will travel together.

According to a senior party leader, the bus tour led by Shivakumar separately would have been similar to the 1999 ‘Panchjanya Yatra’ in which Congress leaders led by the then KPCC president S M Krishna had travelled in buses.

“The reason why the yatra was divided between the two leaders is due to time constraints. Covering all 224 assembly seats will take time. Since we have two tall leaders in the party, they could send the party’s message strongly if they divided the tasks between them. But we realised that this could be used by the Opposition to show that both leaders are not together,” said a leader who didn’t want to be named.