Has the Congress brass, in its bid to fight a dustbin fire, opened itself to leaping flames? That could indeed be the case. After years of posturing between outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his likely successor DK Shivakumar, the Congress leadership finally brokered a transition formula in Karnataka on Tuesday. Siddaramaiah resigned on Thursday. But the unseating of the veteran OBC leader hasn’t gone down well with a big section of supporters in Karnataka, and the messaging might come back to bite the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi. And Rahul Gandhi might have been well aware of the risks.
While the Karnataka leadership crisis might appear to have been resolved, the decision to make Siddaramaiah step aside has triggered discontent among sections of the Congress in Karnataka, with protesters burning posters of Rahul Gandhi. Though the protest was against the high command’s decision, Rahul Gandhi became the face of the decision to remove Siddaramaiah, who is viewed as the party’s strongest mass leader in the state.
The move to ask Siddaramiah to step aside in favour of DK Shivakumar goes against the image Rahul Gandhi has cultivated over the years, and the political planks he has tried to build. He has batted for a pan-India caste census, projecting himself as a leader who fights for backward classes.
Siddaramiah is an OBC leader who has built the AHINDA social coalition of backward communities, while DK Shivakumar or DKS is from the influential Vokkaliga community.
Among the four states ruled by the Congress, Karnataka was the only one headed by a leader from the backward community.
This positioning was crucial for Rahul Gandhi as he has been trying to consolidate the support of Dalits, minorities, and backward-class voters, which is necessary for him at the national level against the BJP. He was using the Mandal against BJP’s kamandal. With Siddaramaiah stepping down, there is no OBC, or minority, or Dalit face heading any government in any of the Congress-ruled states.
The Assembly election in Karnataka is due by May 2028. It is one of the southern states where the BJP is a major force and has been in power.
RAHUL GANDHI AWARE OF THE RISK OF SIDESTEPPING SIDDU?
While Siddaramaiah, or Siddu as he is popularly called, built the party organisationally over two decades, DKS had emerged as an alternative power centre and a troubleshooter. It must have been a tough choice for the high command, but it must have been aware of the risks involved.
Rahul Gandhi, the de facto Congress chief, was reluctant to ask Siddaramaiah to step aside, and it was Priyanka Gandhi who persuaded him to do so, according to a report in The Times of India. Sources told the newspaper that Siddaramaiah was shocked when Rahul Gandhi directly asked him to make way for DK Shivakumar as the CM of Karnataka.
Other than Rahul, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, General Secretary KC Venugopal and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala were part of the group that took the decision. However, Rahul Gandhi has become the face of the decision, and will in all likelihood, as the protests suggest, face criticism and backlash.
KURUBA LEADER SAYS CONGRESS WILL FACE SETBACKS IN KARNATAKA
Kurubas — the community that Siddaramaiah belongs to — and other backward classes held widespread protests in Yadgiri, Raichur, Kalaburgi, and Shivamogga districts, alleging that Karnataka’s longest-serving CM was “forced” to step down by the high command.
The protesters raised slogans against the Congress high command, especially Rahul Gandhi. They accused the Congress high command of “doing injustice” to a backward class leader and a pro-people chief minister who had successfully completed eight years in office.
One protestor allegedly tried to consume poison and end his life during the protest in Yadgiri, according to a report in the Deccan Herald.
“The AHINDA bloc voted the Congress party to power with the faith that Siddaramaiah will be made CM for the complete term. The party leadership has betrayed AHINDA voters. The Congress party will plummet to 36 MLAs from the current 135 in the 2028 Assembly polls for forcing Siddaramaiah to quit as CM midway,” Karnataka Pradesh Kuruba Sangha’s district president, Gurunath Pujari, said in Kalaburgi.
“If Siddaramaiah resigns, the Congress will face serious setbacks in future elections,” he warned.
Protestors also expressed their support for the outgoing CM and asserted why Siddaramaiah was significant to the Congress.
“AHINDA voters supported the Congress in 2023 for the sole reason that Siddaramaiah would be made CM for five years,” Siddanna Teji, convener of AHINDA Karnataka, said in Hubballi. “The Ahinda bloc will look for a political alternative and will teach the Congress a lesson in the 2028 Assembly polls,” Teji added.
Another Kuruba leader, Lakshman Pujari, described Siddaramaiah as a committed leader who worked for the uplift of backward classes. “After Devaraj Urs, Siddaramaiah was the leader who introduced several welfare schemes for marginalised communities. The Congress will suffer politically if he is removed,” he said hours before Siddaramaiah sent his resignation letter to the Governor on Thursday.
WHY SIDDARAMAIAH’S RESIGNATION COULD HURT RAHUL GANDHI
Rahul Gandhi has built his national political image, assuring that he will provide OBCs, Dalits, and minorities with social justice and fair representation in the country. This model of politics gave Rahul Gandhi and the Congress some benefit in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP’s Hindu-mobilisation politics.
Many political experts believe that asking Siddaramaiah to resign has dented Rahul Gandhi’s image of being a leader for the backward community.
“Rahul Gandhi asking Siddaramaiah point-blank to resign was something he never expected. Rahul Gandhi was his biggest supporter and had always backed him. It came as a shock to him, and was like a surgical strike. I think he has been demoralised after that,” Bengaluru-based senior journalist RK Upadhya told India Today TV.
There are four states that are currently ruled by the Congress, and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah was the only CM from a backward community the Congress had. Now, with the replacement of Siddaramaiah with Shivakumar, who hails from the dominant Vokkaliga community, people are criticising Rahul Gandhi for what they perceive to be “double standards” over his backward community-minority stance.
Siddaramaiah is regarded as a mass leader in Karnataka who built his political career around the empowerment of backward communities, minorities, and Dalits. Through welfare schemes targeted at these sections, Siddaramaiah helped the Congress consolidate a strong social coalition in the state, which also contributed to strengthening Rahul Gandhi’s political stature in Karnataka.
However, by asking Siddaramaiah to step down, Rahul Gandhi has opened himself to criticism, not just from the opposition, but also from sections within the Congress that view the move as unfair to one of the party’s tallest backward class leaders. Rahul Gandhi might have to answer some tough questions at the hustings.
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