Bengaluru: Day after suffering a huge setback in Madhya Pradesh with the exit of senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and 21 MLAs, the Congress party expedited its long pending announcement of appointing senior Congressman D.K. Shivakumar as its Karnataka unit chief.
The announcement comes after months of lobbying and discussions on the “right time” to appoint its trusted troubleshooter Shivakumar, whose name was approved by the Congress high command in January this year, as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).
Shivakumar had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last year in an alleged money laundering case. He was released in October 2019 after 50 days behind the bars.
One of the major reasons for the delay in naming Shivakumar as the KPCC chief was the apprehension that he could be arrested again.
The Karnataka Congress has seen a very turbulent phase with its coalition government with the JD(S) crumbling, and the party later performing miserably during the December bypolls.
The latest developments in MP forced the party to re-think its strategy and ensure leaders like Shivakumar do no desert the party at a crucial time like this.
“The Congress has now shifted itself to a ‘safe mode’ and ensure that they do not hurt or annoy any other party member. The party needs to build with the help of the cadre and we should leave no chance for people who are loyal to the party to take a cue from the developments,” said a senior Congress leader, who did not wish to be named.
Shivakumar replaces Dinesh Gundu Rao as the Karnataka Congress chief.
The Congress Wednesday also appointed Eshwar Khandre, Satish Jarkiholi and Saleem Ahammed as working presidents of the Karnataka unit.
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah will continue as the Congress Legislative Party leader and leader of the opposition in the assembly.
Shivakumar is known to be the ‘crisis manager’ of the Congress, and has risen to the occasion several times to keep the flock together.
Even as the crisis unfolded in Madhya Pradesh, when the rebel Congress legislators were holed up in safehouses in Bengaluru, Shivakumar’s help was sought to convince the rebel MLAs to return to Bhopal.
Even though he was in touch with the central Congress leaders who had asked him to step in, a close associate said, Shivakumar was “quite upset” with the delay in appointing him the Karnataka Congress chief.
Tihar stint helped Shivakumar become Congress chief
With the decision, the party is eyeing redemption — for itself as well as for Shivakumar, whose arrest by the ED last year was described by the Congress as a bid to harass the opposition.
Soon after his name was cleared for appointment at the KPCC chief in January, a few senior leaders, who did not want to be named, had told The Print that the decision could not have come at a better time.
The drubbing that the party faced in the 2019 byelections — it won just two of 15 seats — and its poor performance in the 2018 assembly elections, where it sought reelection but managed just 80 of the state’s 224 assembly seats, affected the morale of party workers.
There is also much disgruntlement among workers on the ground, especially in southern districts, about the shock tie-up with arch-rival Janata Dal (Secular), which won less than half the Congress’ tally but got the chief minister’s chair in their short-lived coalition government.
The aforementioned Congress leaders said Shivakumar’s prowess to resolve differences between leaders, build confidence among the cadres to work for the party and, most importantly, display loyalty will help rebuild the party’s sinking morale.
Political analysts agreed, saying his jail stint had helped Shivakumar mature as a leader and he is likely to bring a renewed spirit of political combativeness to the party.
“The Congress has lost its will to fight and Shivakumar is the kind of man who loves a good fight,” said political scientist Sandeep Shastri.
“He has the capacity to take the battle to the opposition’s court and isn’t the type to shy away from a battle… that is what the Congress needs right now,” he added.
A Congress leader, however, said the Vokkaliga leader should avoid getting into “casteist politics”.
“He should be an inclusive leader and not play casteist politics. There is a tendency to do that once in power and he should refrain from that,” the leader added.
Another political scientist, Harish Ramaswamy, said Shivakumar was unlikely to indulge in caste-based politics, adding that his time in Tihar had transformed him from the “angry young man of the Congress” to a more mature leader.
“He saw the response he got when he returned to Bengaluru and how they believed in his leadership. He is a strategist who has successfully led a few elections, one who has developed patience, but needs to build his image not just as a Vokkaliga leader, but a mass leader,” Ramaswamy added.
Also read: Disconnected from voters & rudderless — Karnataka Congress hurtles from one crisis to next
Shivakumar has his task cut out
The Karnataka Congress president post fell vacant when incumbent Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned in the wake of the party’s abysmal performance in the byelections last month.
Dinesh is a protégé of former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who too had submitted his resignation as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.
Both Siddaramaiah and Rao were said to be “keen” to hand over the baton to a new guard.
As Karnataka Congress chief, Shivakumar has his path chalked out — to become the undisputed leader of the party while strengthening the party, which has developed fissures on account of internal strife and last year’s defections to the BJP.
Multiple sources in the party said if he manages to lead the Congress to power, it would make him the frontrunner for the chief ministerial post — a dream he is said to have nursed since he entered politics in the 1990s.
While lobbying for the post of Karnataka Congress chief, Shivakumar forged outreach across party members to ensure he had the support of all leaders, including the likes of Siddaramaiah, with whom he is not known to have shared a very amicable relationship of late.
Earlier, Shivakumar and some other senior Congress leaders had communicated to the party high command that they were unhappy with Siddaramaiah being given a free hand to make decisions, despite his failure to keep the party in power in the state.
The group also alleged that Siddaramaiah was the main reason behind the fall of the 14-month Congress-JD(S) coalition. Siddaramaiah had stonewalled Shivakumar’s earlier attempts at outreach, but the two seem to have mended fences after a recent meeting.
“Visited former minister Shri @DKShivakumar at his residence and conveyed my support to him. In spite of being targeted for political reasons, he has not lost his confidence. @INCIndia party will always stand with him,” Siddaramaiah tweeted on 27 October, after the meeting.
Congress MLC Mohan Kondaji said Shivakumar was a mass leader who had “learnt how to make peace with political leaders who he may have had a long-standing conflict with”.
“He had a longstanding rivalry with the Deve Gowda family… but he managed to win their confidence, just like he did with another senior Congress leader H.K. Patil, who was also a frontrunner for the post,” he added.
“He has shown his loyalty to the party. At a time when people have switched sides and allegiance, he has remained loyal,” Kondaji said.
Also read: Don’t play hide & seek with court: Delhi HC pulls up ED in DK Shivakumar bail plea hearing