Crisis To Consensus

The inside story of how the Congress brokered peace between Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar

- PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR AND SONI MISHRA

The hurdle came after the finish line.

As soon as the Congress won 135 seats to oust the BJP government in Karnataka, a turbulent truce was withdrawn. Both Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar wanted the chief minister’s chair. While the state Congress president wanted a “return gift” for reviving a party that was in tatters following the mass desertions of 2019, the former chief minister pointed to the overwhelming support of the party MLAs who backed him for the job. The decision was not easy; it was not simple math.

Shivakumar argued that Siddaramaiah had already served a full term as chief minister and it was only fair to follow the tradition of making the party president chief minister. While both leaders took credit for the near 5 per cent increase in vote share, Shivakumar reasoned that his Vokkaliga community had voted for the Congress to see their own chief minister. As a counter, Siddaramaiah said he was the state’s undisputed ahinda leader with the support of minorities, backward classes and dalits.

Siddaramaiah’s confidants claimed that Rahul Gandhi had promised him the top job when he was in Delhi last year to invite Rahul for his 75th birthday celebrations. Siddaramaiah had told Rahul that he would not contest but only campaign if he was not the chief minister candidate. Rahul apparently gave him his word.

Strangely, Shivakumar, too, made a similar claim—he said Sonia Gandhi had promised to “reward” him if he delivered Karnataka to the party.