Bengaluru: The outpouring of dissent within Karnataka’s ruling Congress over the latest Cabinet expansion spilled into a second straight day Tuesday, with several senior and prominent leaders blaming infighting among top leaders and even the party high command for their exclusion from D.K. Shivakumar’s cabinet.
So far, at least one senior Congress legislator has resigned, and several others have indicated that their supporters are pressuring them to follow suit, compounding the challenges for Shivakumar, who himself was made the chief minister in June in place of Siddaramaiah after months of infighting.
“I was close to Siddaramaiah and respect him a great deal even today. But I never liked the behaviour of some people, the way they talk,” M.C. Sudhakar, the Congress legislator from Chikballapura, told Public TV.
The former minister for higher education said that he was “targeted” due to his proximity to Siddaramaiah—who heads one of the three main factions in the Congress party.
People aware of the developments say that after being replaced by Shivakuma as CM, Siddaramaiah nursed a feeling of neglect over the high command’s decision to drop his former colleagues and even stayed away from the 3 August swearing-in ceremony for 19 newly inducted ministers.
Legislators even trained their guns at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership who took two months to draft the cabinet expansion list that threw up many surprises and dropped several seniors without intimation.
“If this process was done quickly, would so many people be upset? They dragged it on for two months and probably the high command did not take Karnataka seriously and did not deal with the situation properly,” Sudhakar said.
Senior legislators like T.B. Jayachandra, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Belur Srinivas, Rahim Khan, Tanveer Said and several others questioned the criteria used to finalise the list.
Jayachandra, one of the senior most party leaders, criticised the decision to include people who entered the party in recent years. “It no longer looks like a Congress government but an all-party government.”
While dissent is not unusual after cabinet expansion exercises, it is bogging the CM down at a time when the state approaches crucial local elections. The severe drought condition also needs urgent government attention.
The state also goes to the polls in 2028, leaving little time for Shivakumar to not just put his own house in order but to overcome growing challenges of fund crunch, fix infrastructure issues, and deliver on effective governance to help retain power.
Shivakumar now faces a daunting task of assuaging tempers, placating disgruntled leaders, managing expectations of the population and putting up a united front to ward off attacks by the Opposition on the streets and the upcoming monsoon session of the state legislature.
‘Injustice has been done’
The Congress high command took two months to finalise the cabinet expansion list largely due to pressure from multiple factions headed by leaders like Shivakumar, Siddararamaiah, and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge.
Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah spent significant time in Delhi lobbying to secure cabinet berths for their respective loyalists, while several legislators also camped there for weeks to make their case before the high command.
There were changes made to the final list as well: S.S. Mallikarjun replaced Mankal Vaidya and Gayatri Shanthegowda, the lone woman on the list, was not even allowed to take oath.
“Shanthegowda’s name came from the high command as they wanted to accommodate a lady. So, the former CM (Siddaramaiah) suggested Shanthegowda’s name. But then again, her win was legitimised only last Friday and everyone felt that her selection would not be right because there were already two Kurubas (Yathindra Siddaramaiah and Byrathi Suresh) already ministers,” said one cabinet minister of Karnataka, requesting anonymity.
With Shanthegowda excluded, the current cabinet consists of 33 men and no women. Supporters of former minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who have been protesting since Monday afternoon, are now hoping for her reinstatement.
Other women leaders including Nayana Motamma, Annapoorna Tukaram and Kaneez Fathima have also demanded to be considered for the last remaining cabinet seat.
Meanwhile, supporters of senior Congress leader M. Krishnappa and his son, MLA Priya Krishna, stormed into the party office in Bengaluru, threatening to resign en masse over the exclusion of their leader(s).
“I don’t deny that injustice has been done. But we will try and placate him elsewhere,” B.K. Hariprasad, the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), told protestors Tuesday.
He requested them to not think about resigning, assuring that Priya Krishna still has a lot of politics ahead of him.
‘Will accept resignations’
S.R. Srinivas, the Congress legislator from Gubbi in Tumakuru, said that he cannot do much about being excluded from the cabinet. “It’s difficult for a farmer’s son to rise in politics. You either need a godfather, have earned money dubiously or learnt other skills. This (exclusion) proves these points once again,” Srinivas told reporters Tuesday.
Rao, a six-time MLA from Gandhi Nagar in Bengaluru, said that he was disappointed at being given no reason for his exclusion.
“I am pained not for missing out on a cabinet berth but because I have been given no reason for being dropped,” Rao said.
He also said that it was the first time that a Brahmin would not be part of the state cabinet. Rao had served as the minister for health & family welfare in the previous Siddaramaiah government.
The Chief Minister Tuesday said that he will meet disgruntled MLAs and give them assignments in Boards and Corporations, and assign other roles within the government and party.
Shivakumar said that tendering resignations is common in politics and that he cannot stop anyone from doing so.
He reiterated his own exclusion from the cabinets of Dharam Singh and the earlier Siddaramaiah government (2013-18) and how patience was key to longevity in politics. “The Party is very important. If anyone resigns, within a few minutes I am going to accept it,” Shivakumar said, issuing a stern warning to those threatening to resign.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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