Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar issued a diktat on June 19 after members of the party were projecting chief ministerial candidates for the next Karnataka Assembly election that is two years away. While some have been backing Shivakumar, other members are batting for Siddaramaiah to be the ‘next Chief Minister’. Siddaramaiah being projected by a section of leaders seems to have not gone well with Shivakumar, who is also nursing ambitions to become the Chief Minister, party sources said. Reacting to Chamarajpet legislator BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan's repeated statements projecting Siddaramaiah as the "next Chief Minister", Shivakumar on Saturday said that the party would go to polls under a collective leadership, and everyone has been asked to "stay within limits".
A Deccan Herald report quoted the Karnataka Congress chief saying that everyone has aspirations, but bringing Congress to power is their duty. The report also quoted him saying that there’s no confusion amongst party leaders after Khan publicly hailed Siddaramaiah as the next CM. Shivakumar said that the party was “more important than worshipping the individual”.
Koppal MLA Raghavendra Hitnal on Sunday reiterated Khan’s statement and expressed that many leaders of the party and “most importantly the people of the state," want Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister. This statement came despite the diktat issued by Shivakumar.
Hitnal, further commenting on the issue, said that Siddaramaiah would have handled the COVID-19 pandemic better. "Shivakumar has said what he has to say as the party president, and in the interest of the party, but what we are saying is that people in rural areas and across the state are of this opinion. It is the voice of the people that Siddaramaiah should become the next Chief Minister and we support it," he added.
The two leaders of the Congress have been involved in political one-upmanship and the issue will likely take an argumentative turn, said party sources. According to reports, a tweet by the official account of Congress last month, stating that the COVID-19 pandemic would have been under control if Shivakumar was the Chief Minister, has enraged the Siddaramaiah camp, purportedly intensifying the political tussle between the two leaders.
Siddaramaiah had earlier headed the Congress government between 2013-18 as Chief Minister, in which Shivakumar, who is often referred as the party's "troubleshooter," was a Minister.