After months of delay, the All India Congress Committee finally on Wednesday announced that former Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar will head the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. After intense lobbying for several months, the high command’s announcement comes at a time when the party is on a shaky wicket as it faced a huge setback in Madhya Pradesh. With Jyotiraditya Scindia joining the BJP, it has become imperative for the Congress to ensure other leaders like DK Shivakumar do not leave.
Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah will continue to serve as the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly and leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Legislators Eshwar Khandre, Satish Jarkiholi and Saleem Ahammed have been appointed as KPCC Working Presidents. All three members of the party are close associates of Siddaramaiah.
The party has also appointed MLC Narayanaswamy, a close associate of DK Shivakumar as the Chief Whip in the Karnataka Legislative Council. Congress MLA from Jewargi Ajay Singh, son of former Chief Minister Dharam Singh has been appointed the Chief Whip in the Assembly.
ಎಐಸಿಸಿ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರಾದ ಶ್ರೀಮತಿ ಸೋನಿಯಾ ಗಾಂಧಿಯವರು ನೂತನವಾಗಿ ಕೆಪಿಸಿಸಿ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರಾಗಿ @DKShivakumar ಅವರನ್ನು ಕಾರ್ಯಾಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರಾಗಿ @eshwar_khandre, @JarkiholiSatish, @SaleemAhmadINC ಅವರನ್ನು ನೇಮಕ ಮಾಡಿ ಆದೇಶ ಹೊರಡಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.@siddaramaiah ಅವರು ಶಾಸಕಾಂಗ ಪಕ್ಷ ಮತ್ತು ವಿರೋಧ ಪಕ್ಷದ ನಾಯಕರಾಗಿ ಮುಂದುವರೆಯಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ. pic.twitter.com/tzcq3jf4Kr
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) March 11, 2020
Speaking to the media after the appointment was confirmed, DK Shivakumar thanked the Congress party workers for actively supporting him. Shivakumar also said that he would remain a party worker at heart despite the appointment as the KPCC President.
"I have grown from humble party worker. Many people had cast aspersions on me and have tried to hoist false cases against me. But my party leaders collectively urged the leaders on top to make me the party president. All party workers and leaders supported me and Sonia Gandhi has given me this huge responsibility. In 1985, when I was a student leader, Rajiv Gandhi identified me and gave me a ticket to contest Assembly elections. I have worked hard as a party worker till now. Even though I am the President now, I am still a party worker. I do not worship people but worship my party," DK Shivakumar said.
The fight for the KPCC President was between Shivakumar and his most formidable detractor -- Siddaramaiah. In 2018, Dinesh Gundu Rao, a Siddaramaiah loyalist, had been named the party's president. This time around too, Siddaramaiah wanted one of his supporters to become the president. However, party sources told TNM that the high command could not ignore the demands of ‘loyalists’ like DK Shivakumar. It is in order to pacify all factions within the splintered Karnataka Congress, Satish Jarkiholi, Eshwar Khandre and Saleem Ahamed were made Working Presidents.
The rivalry between DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah is not new. The first among many instances was when Shivakumar was deliberately kept out of the cabinet in 2013. Shivakumar got Sonia Gandhi to intervene and ensured that he was given the Energy portfolio.
The two leaders have been at odds ever since. The rift only grew wider after the Congress and JD(S) forged an alliance in May 2018 after the Karnataka state Assembly election results were announced. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had differences over making Kumaraswamy the Chief Minister. While Shivakumar batted for Kumaraswamy to become the CM, Siddaramaiah remained unhappy.
But after suffering losses in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, DK Shivakumar had the upper hand to convince the high command that the party needed new leadership.
Siddaramaiah had resigned as the Congress Legislature Party Chief after the party suffered a massive defeat in the December 2019 bye-elections. The then KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao had also resigned on December 9, 2019, stating that both leaders were accepting moral responsibility for the party’s failures.
Several leaders from Siddaramaiah's previously loyal votebank (minorities, OBCs and Dalits), especially people from the Kuruba community have veered away from the Congress in recent years. With no other strong leader to ensure the grunt work is done, the party picked Shivakumar, who has proved an able troubleshooter in the past.
Siddaramaiah had resigned as the Congress Legislature Party Chief after the party suffered a massive defeat in the December 2019 bye-elections. The then KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao had also resigned on December 9, 2019, stating that both leaders were accepting moral responsibility for the party’s failures.