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Working with Shivakumar to ensure Congress’s return to power: Siddaramaiah to HT

By Vinod Sharma
May 01, 2023 02:02 PM IST

The Congress has faced tensions between the factions loyal to Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over the chief minister’s post.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, 76, has said he and DK Shivakumar, the other aspirant in the Congress for Karnataka’s top post, were cooperating with each other and working as a team to ensure their party’s return to power. (Follow Karnataka assembly election full coverage)

Congress leader Siddaramaiah. (PTI)
Congress leader Siddaramaiah. (PTI)

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Siddaramaiah reiterated he will quit electoral politics after turning 80 but will not demit office in the last year of his tenure and let someone else take over if he becomes the chief minister again. “I do not want to be in electoral politics after I am 80. ...I will be 81 after five years. I would be active in politics thereafter but will not contest elections,” he said.

He said he was the chief minister earlier for a full five years from 2013-2018 and did not want to run away from responsibility. “That is why I contested the last [2018] election.” He said he is in the race now because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s government has been the most corrupt and communal. “[The BJP government] is spreading hatred in the state. I am contesting again to dislodge this government.”

Siddaramaiah said Congress will get 130-plus out of 224 seats in the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls and form the government on its own without needing Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S)’s backing.

He said there is a secret understanding between JD(S) leader Deve Gowda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.

In an interview with Hindustan Times last week, Gowda denied having any understanding with fellow Vokkaliga Shivakumar. Asked about Siddaramaiah, who defected from the JD (S) to Congress, becoming the only chief minister in recent years to get a full majority (2013), Gowda said those days are over. Responding to another question over the possibility of another fractured verdict, Gowda said there are so many leaders in that case. “There is DK Shivakumar and others. It was not like that in 2013. Today, there are various competent leaders in the Congress itself.”

The Congress, which is seen to be a frontrunner in the three-cornered contest, has faced tensions between the factions loyal to Siddaramaiah and the party’s state unit chief Shivakumar over the chief minister’s post.

Both Gowda and Shivkumar are Vokkaligas, who account for 15% of Karnataka’s population.

JD(S) has held the key to government formation in Karnataka because of successive fractured mandates.

Siddaramaiah maintained said there was no question of JD(S) supporting Congress. “That question does not arise because Congress will have a comfortable majority. My ground assessment is that we will get 130-plus seats. The JD(S) may get 20-25 and the BJP 60-65.”

The BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats in 2018. But it fell nine short of a simple majority in the 224-member assembly, where one member is nominated. The Congress won 78 seats and two more later in by-polls. But it offered JD(S), which managed to get just 37 seats, the chief minister’s post to keep the BJP out of power.

The alliance government fell after it lost the trust vote in the assembly in June 2020. A string of resignations by lawmakers of the Congress and JD(S) paved the way for BJP’s return to power.

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