The Karnataka Congress on Wednesday put up a show of unity in the form of birthday celebrations of former chief minister and leader of the Opposition, Siddaramaiah, at Davangere town, about 260 km from Bengaluru.
The event comes amid reports of a rift between Siddaramiah and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar, which, party functionaries have said is over the chief minister’s candidature. Assembly elections are due in the state in 2023.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was a part of Wednesday’s celebrations, which were held amid a massive crowd.
According to a report by news agency PTI, Shivakumar felicitated Siddaramaiah at the event and hugged him in the presence of Gandhi.
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“Today, I was happy to see Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar hugging each other on the stage”, Gandhi said addressing the event, the report added.
Thanking his supporters for the huge turnout and support, Siddaramaiah asserted that talks of rift between him and Shivakumar are an “illusion and creation” of Opposition parties and media, said the PTI report.
{{/usCountry}}Thanking his supporters for the huge turnout and support, Siddaramaiah asserted that talks of rift between him and Shivakumar are an “illusion and creation” of Opposition parties and media, said the PTI report.
{{/usCountry}}“I and Shivakumar are together. There is no difference of opinion among us. Our only aim is to remove the corrupt and communal BJP government and bring Congress back to power with blessings of the people,” he said.
Shivakumar, in his speech, said the Congress has decided to fight the Assembly elections under collective leadership. Asking party men not to project Siddaramaiah as leader of backward communities as “he is leader of all communities”, Shivakumar said, “let us all work together under his stewardship, Congress has decided to go for polls under collective leadership, let’s all work together to bring the party back to power. Let’s work to strengthen Sonia Gandhi’s hands and to make Rahul Prime Minister.”
“BJP’s ‘40% commission’ govt in Karnataka runs opposite to Guru Basavanna’s ideals of honesty and work is worship. Congress is united in its efforts to uproot this corrupt and inefficient govt. Our vision - a govt for all, which works for the poor, and brings peace & harmony,” Gandhi tweeted after the event.
The former Congress president visited the influential Murugha Mutt of the Lingayat community in neighbouring Chitradurga before reaching Davangere.
Bengaluru-based political analyst, Narendra Pani, said Gandhi’s visit and the Davangere event were the start of the Congress’s campaign efforts for the 2023 elections. “There are just nine months or less to go before the elections,” he said.
Pani termed Davangere as a “bellwether” district, drawing similarities to the American political system which refers to a geographic area whose voting preferences reflect that of a wider area. Kurubas, the politically influential community that Siddaramaiah hails from, are also found in large numbers in this district.
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Siddaramaiah had also held a AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) movement here after he was removed from the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) and joined the Congress in 2006.
An old industrial hub, the large working class population in the district had a sizeable elected representation from Left parties, especially the Communist Party of India (CPI), which later shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in recent elections.
Reacting to Gandhi’s visit, Karnataka’s minister for higher education, CN Ashwath Narayan, said: “Rahul Gandhi, who dresses and poses as a Hindu during elections, probably came for poll campaigning and not Siddaramaiah’s birthday. He sips the holy water (thirta) as a tablet, tried to divide the Lingayat during the last elections and today did an act of being initiated into the sect.”
State BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel said: “The BJP government had cancelled its ‘Janotsava’ (first year of Bommai in government) in view of the law and order situation as well as in support of the people who are suffering. But one faction of the Congress is trying to project Siddaramaiah as the chief minister by celebrating (his birthday) in a grand manner. The Congress party has no concern for the people.”
(WITH PTI INPUTS)