New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who is facing an internal rebellion of sorts has been camping in New Delhi seeking the intervention of party high command. Siddaramaiah has been trying to reshuffle his Cabinet which is almost 30 months old. He has earlier tried at least 5-6 times to effect a major change in his Cabinet. But, all his efforts were stonewalled by the high command. This time, he is hoping that both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will give the green signal.
After he came to power in May 2013, the first two years had been extremely good for him as he faced no rebellion and the high command had also backed him fully. The situation seems to have dramatically changed in the last 2-3 months. Dozens of ministerial aspirants have been forcing him to drop a dozen ‘non-performing’ ministers and induct ‘able’ MLAs as ministers in their place. At least 30-40 Congress MLAs have also expressed unhappiness over his style of functioning. They allege that Siddaramaiah is behaving like a dictator and helps only the people from his caste and coterie.
Even top leaders of the party like former chief minister S M Krishna and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha M Mallikarjuna Kharge are reportedly unhappy with his administration. According to reports both the leaders have informed the high command that continuing with Siddaramaiah might ruin the prospects of the Congress in the state in 2018 Assembly polls. Kharge is eyeing the chief minister’s chair. He has narrowly missed the chair thrice in the past and knows that this is perhaps his last chance. Kharge commands the respect of the party leaders and workers across Karnataka. Known as a good administrator, Kharge is both feared and respected by the bureaucracy.
Alarmed by these developments aimed at unseating him, Siddaramaiah has rushed to the national capital promising a major change in his Cabinet. He hopes that a reshuffle will give him more time and divide the dissidents. According to his close aides, he is planning to drop at least 8-10 ministers and induct 8-10 able MLAs as new ministers. KPCC President Dr G Parameshwara, who is completing his five year term in a month has been trying to join the Caninet as a minister. He has been demanding that he be made deputy chief minister with Home ministry. Siddaramaiah is opposed to it, but might be forced to accommodate Parameshwara as a senior minister. His mentor SM Krishna is not ready for any compromise with Siddaramaiah. He has made it clear to the high command that the only way to save the Congress in Karnataka is removal of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister.
The main opposition BJP is also keenly observing the developments. The BJP feels that removal of Siddaramaiah is not good for the saffron party. A top leader of the BJP said “if the Congress continues with Siddaramaiah, the BJP will sweep the next Assembly polls. He is so unpopular. We hope the high command won’t trouble him”.
In a surprising move, Siddaramaiah has buried the hatchet with his one-time mentor turned enemy number one JDS chief HD Deve Gowda. He has tied up with the JDS in the Bengaluru City Corporation and having secret parleys with the Gowda clan to pre-empt any move by the high command to unseat him.
A senior Cabinet minister in his government said “if the high command gives a green signal for the Cabinet reshuffle, Siddaramaiah will survive. If it does not, then he may not survive as chief minister for long”.
However the high command is treading cautiously as Karnataka is its last bastion and it does not want to rock the boat.
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