Siddaramaiah may have been elected the 22nd Chief Minister of karnataka by the Congress legislature party last Friday amidst of unexpected drama but the choice of Ministers in his Cabinet is going to be all the more tough because of the presence of so many heavyweights and former ministers.
That is why he has decided to take oath alone on Monday (13th May) and then go to Delhi along with KPCC President Dr G Parmeshwar to get the clearance from the Congress High Command. Even as it was clear that Siddaramaiah would be the natural choice for the post of Chief Minister after the unexpected defeat of KPCC president from korategere assembly segment, two Union Ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and M Veerappa Moily threw their hats in the ring and made the issue a little more complicated. Moily later clarified that he was never in the race but Kharge kept sticking his head in the mud by announcing that he was one of the contenders for the post of the Chief Minister.
According to many political pundits, this was totally uncalled for as Kharge had neither been elected as a member of the Legislative assembly nor he had the popular support from the majority of legislators. But then lust for power and political ambition has always been the hallmark of some karnataka politicians and Kharge proved to be no exception to this. He not only sought the support of KPCC President in the name of his caste and community as both Parameshwar and Siddharamaih have been at logger heads with each other for some time and the relationship between Parmeshwar and Kharge had also turned sour some time ago. Kharge had also approached SM Krishna for soliciting his support in realizing his dream of becoming Chief Minister.
It was then that the Congress party observers from Delhi opted for the ‘secret ballot’ which went in favour of Siddharamaih and in consonance with the local aspirations and sentiments of the Kuruba community.
However, what followed thereafter in Gulbarga was bizarre and totally uncalled for. Video clips of Kharge supporters in Gulbarga protesting against his not being elected as the CLP leader in place of Siddaramaiah and some of his supporters hitting the posters of Rahul Gandhi with “chappals” gave enough proof of his frustration and blackmail. In the process, not only Kharge lost the support of many loyal congress workers within the party in Karnataka, his “greed for power” and the frustration became public.
But then, this is nothing new as many Congress leaders from Hyderabad- karnataka region have been playing this kind of ‘blackmail game’ for quite some time and both N Dharam Singh and Mallikarjun Kharge have been known for their dexterous use of the Andhra Pradesh card to get prominence in Karnataka politics. There are a few others too whose myopic attitude and “obsession with their kith and kin only” has harmed the Congress party at many places. There have been rare examples in the recent past when Congress leaders have sacrificed their personal ambition for the larger interest of the party.
Whether it was Kotla Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, PV Narasimha Rao, Chenna Reddy or YS Rajehsekhar Reddy, these two leaders have always bamboozled themselves with the help of Andhra lobby and got plum posts in the past. Dharam Singh could at least become Karnataka chief Minister for a period of 20 months in 2004 but Kharge could not get that opportunity in 2008 because the Congress aparty could barely manage to get 80 seats. There were allegations of Congress ticket sale in 2008 and Kharge’s Man Friday KC kondaih’s name had been dragged into that as well.
According to some Congress legislators from Mumbai karnataka region, both Kharge and Dharam Singh have remained ministers for more than two decades but there has been little change in the basic amenities in that region. Northern parts of karnataka have by and large remained less developed than even Hubli- Dharwad region and these two leaders did not allow others to grow. Also, they have been held responsible for the non-implementation of Bachhawat award with regards to Krishna waters because of non- completion of various projects and their strong relationship with a bevvy of Andhra contractors over the years.
Kharge’s close aides also floated the rumor that he was getting Railways Ministry as a consolation prize. Yet the fact remains that CP Joshi has been given additional charge of Railways Ministry for the time being. Now, Kharge has been throwing hat that his son Priyanka Kharge, who is the first term MLA, should be given a cabinet berth in Siddaramaiah Ministry and that in turn, has raised many eyebrows.
This only goes to show that these hard boiled politicians still prefer ‘caste’ over competence and political compulsions’ of the congress party. This is despite the fact that the results of 2013 Assembly polls in karnataka has totally messed up and in fact, dismantled that “caste” myth. Yet there is no guarantee that they would not harp on “caste” based representation in the coming days as well.
It is in the light of these factors that Siddaramaiah has chosen to take oath alone on Monday and then throw the ball in the court of Congress High command so that at least, he is not accused of being partisan. He knows that out of the total of 121, at least 60 MLAS are vying for the Ministerial berths. There are at least 34 Ex Ministers who would be jostling for Cabinet berths even as the total number of such positions is only 32.
Apart from seniors like HK Patil, Shamnur Shivshankarappa, DK Shivkumar, AB Malaka Reddy, there are three former Union Minister of state including Ambarish, Srinivas Prasad and Siddhu Nyamegowda who would like to be Ministers.
In addition, there are stalwarts like RV Deshpande, R Roshan baig, HS Mahadevappa and mallikaiya Guttedar who too would be to be accommodated. Even KPCC President Dr G Parameshwar has indicated that he would not mind coming in as Minister.
Till now, every Congress Chief Minister has adopted the formula of giving district-wise representation and that has gone awry sometimes. Both Virendara Patil and SM Krishna had tried to establish some kind of caste and district combination in giving representation in their cabinets.
It is here that the Congress High command would have to ensure that while the aspirations and local sentiments of various communities are not ignored, more importance and emphasis has to be given to “performance and administrative capability of each of the Ministers” because at the end, that would be the major yardstick for judging the performance of the government in the coming days.
Already, skeletons have started tumbling down form a few cupboards and many Congress leaders would try to outdo the other by washing their dirty linen in public. One such case has been of Prapulla Chandra Raya Gowda of Hubli-Dharwad Corporater from congress releases document of Three ‘G’ Category sites allotted to Veeranna Mattikatte of Cong and demands he should not be made a minister. In the same way, former Speaker Ramesh Kumar faces a murder charge against him in his constituency Srinivaspura.
Siddaramaiah not only has to refuse to succumb to such gimmicks and blackmail tactics by a few Congress leaders but also has to give due representation to younger faces in his cabinet. Only then, he would be able to build a bridge between the youth and the experienced and run his administration smoothly given that the mess of last 5 years of BJP rule in Karnataka would be incredibly huge and it would take a lot of tact and careful planning and implementation to see them through.
In addition, the new Chief Minister has to ensure that Congress party in Karnataka has to prepare itself for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls where it would like to increase its share of seats.
Further, it would have to arrest the expansion of the influence of the JD(S) beyond Old Mysore area. HD Kumarasway as the leader of opposition in the Assembly would try every trick in the book to put the government on the mat and the Congress party needs a dynamic Vokkaliga leader to play ball with him.
One way of out of block thinking would be to ask DK Shivkumar to “sacrifice” his Ministerial ambition for the sake of the party and make him the KPCC President in place of Dr Parameshwar. DK Shivkumar can be asked to tour all over the State and galvanize the party workers as he is a competent organizer and can be a big vote mobilizer.
Even otherwise, OBC- Vokkaliga combination would be ideal for the congress party in terms of getting more number of seats.
Moreover the promises made in the Congress party manifesto would itself be a Herculean task for the Congress government. Right from law and order to tackling drought, augmenting power situation, drinking water scarcity and so many other issues across the state need immediate attention of the administration. That would require quick mobilization of resources, deft handling of administration and the goodwill and support of the people in abundant way.
However, it all depends upon the Congress high command on how it views the Karnataka chessboard and what moves it makes to checkmate the dissenters and fence sitters. The impending danger is that even one wrong move would start the process of internal bickering and squabbles and that would weaken the party from within.
(Posted on May 12, 2013 @ 9.30pm)
(Ajay Jha is a Commentator and Independent Writer and Analyst on Politics, security and Economy of South And West Asia. His email id is: Ajay N Jha <ajayjha30@gmail.com>)
Don’t jump so fast. First of all, the City is obligated to cosverne due water to State water shortages.It is easy to blame the LADWP. The question is what do you blame them for?First of all, the money that has been transferred over these many years as water excess to support the City Budget needed to go into the infrastructure.The courts declared that transfer to be illegal, but I do not believe that the City has sent the money back. I don’t think it is in a lock box . The City cannot afford to give it back.The issues facing us today are these:1) How do we literally Keep the City above water in other words the money that the LADWP promised the City from the electric side needs to be transferred ASAP to keep the City from running out of money by May 5th.2)The City has to understand that these transfers are essentially an illegal tax and they will have to take their plans for these transfers out of their future budgets.3)The City Council under the lead of Council member Perry the Chair of the Energy and Environment Committee will have to realize and write the appropriate recommendations for the following ( which she asked the LADWP to report back to her about today) – What will it cost the LADWP to replace the cast iron infrastructure over the next five years? The LADWP and its consultants as well as the CAO will need to report back to the Energy and Environment Committee to determine the 5 year project cost assessment management plan how many miles of pipe what the geology is like.Council member Perry wants to know how to do a pipe assessment program and the projected dollar figure. This program is literally at the level of JPL, satellites, aerial photos, and moisture sensor technology.4)The LADWP and its consultants will also need to report back to the Energy and Environment Committee to determine the appropriate method of water rationing. In order to prevent major pressure changes any days of the week, I think (based upon the comments of the consultant) we could move to alternating days based upon the street address number odd or even. Then the amount of time that you are allowed to water with electronic sprinklers and what time during the day would be part of the mandatory conservation methods.I have to say Jan Perry is on top of this issue she understands it very well.