Siddaramaiah loyalists target DK Shivakumar again over Deputy CM demands

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s loyalists, who have renewed their demand for more deputy chief ministers, seem to have plotted a grand scheme to pin down Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, who is waiting to become chief minister. They have told the party high command that Shivakumar is not a mass leader and he should be divested of the KPCC president’s post. The plan is to bring in their own man to head the party state unit. Ministers from minority, Dalit and backward-class communities are likely to highlight that Shivakumar failed to get Vokkaligas to vote for Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in the Old Mysuru region.

That did not go down well with ministers loyal to Siddaramaiah, and they started demanding more DyCM posts, observed political analysts. “CM’s loyalists want to keep Shivakumar on tenterhooks and that is the reason they keep raising the issue of more DyCM posts frequently to diminish his influence,” a Congress leader said.

It is Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna, an ST Nayaka leader, who keeps taunting Shivakumar and he recently said he is ready to quit his minister’s post if he is made KPCC chief.

In fact, Siddaramaiah’s man Friday and PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, also an ST Nayaka, is lobbying for the KPCC chief’s post. The talking point of Siddaramaiah’s loyalists now is that while Satish managed to get his daughter Priyanka elected to the Lok Sabha, Shivakumar could not ensure the victory of his brother DK Suresh. But the party high command may not replace Shivakumar immediately and may time it with the Assembly polls in Maharashtra, somewhere in October or November this year, a source said. Shivakumar could be elevated as AICC national general secretary with Maharashtra in charge, they added. If he emerges with flying colours, the party is likely to reward him with the CM’s post, the sources added.

On the demand for more DyCMs, Shivakumar in Mangaluru on Tuesday shot back saying, “The media is making news out of this every day. The party will answer these questions. Ask this to AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge or Surjewala, AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka or the CM.”
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