New Delhi: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar arranged for a puja—widely projected as a ‘shatru samhara (destruction of enemies)’—at a Tamil Nadu temple Friday. Although he did not physically attend the puja, this comes at a time when he has increasingly been coming under attack from his party colleagues, nearly two years after the Congress stormed to power in the 2023 assembly elections.
“I got this ‘homa (fire ceremony)’ done for my peace of mind and protection,” Shivakumar told reporters Friday, dismissing rumours that the ritual had anything to do with the odds he has been facing.
Since last week, Shivakumar has been conducting and attending pujas or visiting temples. This comes amid CM Siddaramaiah’s loyalists organising dinner meetings that seem to be arranged to counter Shivakumar’s position in the party, while the Congress high command has largely looked the other way.
As the state Congress chief, Shivakumar played a crucial role in the party’s victory in 2023. When the high command appointed Siddaramaiah as the chief minister, there was a mutual agreement that Siddaramaiah would step aside for his deputy after two and a half years.
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However, while the Opposition BJP turns the heat on the CM over corruption charges during his second year in office, ministers and legislators loyal to Siddaramaiah are busy ramping up attacks against Shivakumar, mobilising support to pressure the top Congress brass to replace him as state party chief and induct more deputy CMs.
Amid this, Shivakumar, on Saturday, said, “I do not want anyone putting pressure on my behalf. I don’t want any MLA to shout out his support for me. It is between the Congress party and me. I will do whatever the party wants me to do. I am just doing my duty.”
However, the attacks against him have intensified since the Congress high command intervened—purportedly at Shivakumar’s insistence—to cancel a ‘dinner meeting’ that Karnataka Home Affairs Minister G. Parameshwara had planned to host for all ministers and MLAs from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities earlier this month.
In response, Karnataka Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna lashed out at Shivakumar, asking if he thought that the meeting “was being discussed to take his wealth away”, while Karnataka Social Welfare Minister H.C.Mahadevappa reacted, saying that “no one can stop them from holding meetings”.
With the Congress having lost key elections in Rajasthan and Haryana and with the polls now coming up in Delhi, Shivakumar has been enlisted for the campaign in the national capital to help the party wrest back power from the Aam Aadmi Party.
But every time Shivakumar leaves the state, he returns to more problems.
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‘Dinner politics’
On 2 January, senior Congress ministers and CM Siddaramaiah attended a dinner meeting by Karnataka PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi.
Shivakumar was away in Turkey with his family at the time.
Then, on 8 January, G. Parameshwara called for a dinner meeting at a private hotel, but it was abruptly cancelled on the instructions of the party high command.
At the time, Shivakumar was in Delhi and lodged a complaint about meetings that seemed to be countering his position in the party with Congress national general secretary (organisation) K.C.Venugopal and state incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala, among others, according to people aware of the developments.
Soon after Congress seized power in Karnataka, there was an informal arrangement that Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar would take turns to be CM. Shivakumar wanted to continue as state Pradesh Congress Committee president and remain the sole deputy CM. However, the Congress never formally acknowledged any leadership agreement.
Then, in December last year, Siddaramaiah said there was no agreement between him and his deputy.
“We went to the 2023 elections under the leadership of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. The people blessed us with 138 seats. The party high command made Siddaramaiah—the Congress Legislature Party leader—as CM. If there has to be a change, the party high command has the authority and power, and we will accept that. In the next elections, let us go to the polls under Shivakumar and return to power. Then, let him be CM for a full term. Why fight for 2.5 years?” Rajanna told reporters Friday.
Siddaramaiah loyalists have spared no opportunity to state that the CM will complete his tenure, and any efforts by Shivakumar to reign in such statements have been futile.
Additionally, several organisations of backward classes have demanded that Siddaramaiah continue for the entire term and threatened state-wide agitations against attempts to replace a ‘backward classes CM’.
From the backward Kuruba community, Siddaramaiah is projected as a leader of the oppressed classes, challenging the disproportionate share of political dominance of groups, such as Lingayats and Vokkaligas, in Karnataka.
While Shivakumar has styled himself as the Vokkaliga leader, leaders of the backward classes demand a higher share of representation in the government, including pressuring the party high command to name more deputy CMs from their community.
The hope is that if and when Siddaramaiah is replaced, the party should consider a leader from the oppressed communities and not from either the Lingayats or Vokkaligas, which do not form the core support base of the Congress.
‘High stakes battle’
In October last year, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge pulled up Shivakumar for stating that he would review the ‘shakti (free public bus rides for women)’ guarantee, which the Congress government in Karnataka has introduced.
Kharge’s attack was seen as a win by Siddaramaiah loyalists.
“Kharge will not oppose the SC/ST lobby in Karnataka and be seen as backing a Vokkaliga claim to be CM. Nor will Kharge challenge Siddaramaiah in the current context,” a political analyst said.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar has given rise to other controversies.
During the winter session of the state legislature in Belagavi, the deputy CM said that he literally barged into and kicked down the door of S.M. Krishna’s home and demanded to be inducted as a minister in the late CMs cabinet between 1999-2004.
Moreover, his pet, big-ticket tunnel project that is underway in Bengaluru has continued to face protests by civic activists. Other infrastructural failures have also been pinned on him.
His image took another beating when his brother D.K. Suresh lost the Bengaluru Rural seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to analysts, Shivakumar has also not been able to capitalise on the allegations of graft against Siddaramaiah.
However, the dinner politics is a sign of panic in the Siddaramaiah camp, Chambi Puranik, a retired professor and political analyst, said.
“This is not Siddaramaiah of the previous term (2013-18). He faces allegations of graft, and there is a kind of hint or message that now or later, he will be replaced. Shivakumar is also useful to the party in other states for campaigning, but Siddaramaiah has been largely restricted to Karnataka. The dinner diplomacy could be an indication of Siddaramaiah’s growing weakness (sic),” Puranik told ThePrint.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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