TROUBLING SHADOW FIGHT IN KARNATAKA CONGRESS

A storm is brewing in the ruling Congress in Karnataka between the groups supporting CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CMDK Shivakumar, which has hit governance in the year-old dispensation.

- B S ARUN

If Siddaramaiah's supporters are demanding appointment of more Deputy CMs (DCMs), followers of Shivakumar (DKS) want to replace Siddu with him. Hardly a day passes without a section of party functionaries, MLAs or even ministers going public on their demands. This has especially increased after the recent Lok Sabha elections, where the Congress won nine seats out of the state's 28, as against its target of "at least 20".

Ever since the Siddaramaiah-led government took over in May 2023, and despite the thumping victory in the assembly polls (135 seats out of 224), the state Congress has been beset with internal squabbles. This has greatly affected governance and in the last year, there has hardly been any notable administrative measure taken up save the set of 'guarantees'. The government's decision to raise fuel prices, milk prices, guidance value, etc it is considering water rate and liquor price hikes has only added to people's problems. There is widespread criticism that prices were raised only because the government was facing a serious fund crunch due to the outgo towards the five guarantees. The total allocation towards the guarantees this fiscal is ₹52,000 crore, up from ₹36,000 crore last fiscal.

The first wicket of the government fell recently. The shocking scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, where funds amounting to crores of rupees were diverted to fake accounts, took the scalp of ST welfare minister B Nagendra.