If Shivakumar decides to play the role of taking responsibility of ensuring victory of the candidates, it will be with an added aggression against the BJP this time.
File photo: PTI
The BJP’s predicted victory in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly poll results on Thursday is now expected to turn the Assembly bye-polls in Karnataka scheduled on December 5 from hotly contested to determining the credentials and political survival of two personalities – state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah. With AICC president Sonia Gandhi reportedly mandating Siddaramaiah to ensure that the Congress wins at least 10 of the 15 seats, it was going to be a solo show of strength by the former chief minister along with other state leaders. Now with former Congress minister DK Shivakumar getting bail after being incarcerated for 50 days in Tihar Jail on charges of alleged money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Congress troubleshooter’s homecoming is expected to give a zing to the party in the bye-polls. Celebrations on Shivakumar’s release started on Wednesday soon after the Delhi court granted him bail. Sackful of coconuts were broken outside the Congress office in Bengaluru and special poojas held in his Kanakapura Assembly constituency. The Vokkaliga community, which had held a protest when he was taken into custody, plans to give him a grand welcome when he returns to Bengaluru. Much depends on Shivakumar’s stand on whether he wants to be at the forefront of the action or go with the flow of being just a campaigner. Apart from learning Hindi in Tihar Jail, discussions with advocates and spending time in the library, according to sources close to him, Shivakumar reportedly has delved on his future career in politics. If Shivakumar decides to play the role which he has done several times in the past of taking responsibility of ensuring victory of the candidates, it will be with an added aggression against the BJP this time. Reason, he holds the BJP responsible for his present state. Soon after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in money laundering cases on September 4, his reaction was: “I congratulate my BJP friends for finally being successful in their mission of arresting me. The IT and ED cases against me are politically motivated and I am a victim of BJP’s politics of vengeance and vendetta.” The BJP and Congress have commenced the process of shortlisting candidates for the bye-polls, while the JD(S), which has decided to go alone, is awaiting the Supreme Court’s verdict. The preliminary exercise of selecting candidates has already resulted in bitterness and rebellion in the BJP and Congress. Both parties have publicly acknowledged that they would go to any length to win these bye-polls and have no qualms in giving tickets to aspirants of opposite parties. Yediyurappa announced that it was the BJP’s duty to stand by the disqualified MLAs and claimed that the party’s national president Amit Shah has agreed to give tickets to all of them. Of the 15 constituencies, 10 were represented by the Congress and three by the JD(S). Yediyurappa’s statement has upset BJP loyalists who are the aspirants, while both Siddaramaiah and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao have said the party does not mind admitting disgruntled BJP members and make them candidates as retaining the seats is the prime motive. However, even as Shivakumar has a huge following in the party, majority of whom spent their own money to be in New Delhi and wait outside the Enforcement Directorate’s office and court when he was being interrogated, there is equal opposition to his leadership among the seniors. Besides, some of the Congress seniors are miffed with Siddaramaiah’s continuation as opposition leader in the Assembly and the CLP. As an offshoot, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar’s equations are not that good as the latter has been a contender for the KPCC president’s post and his name was doing the rounds before he was arrested. Present KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao is Siddaramaiah’s man. Besides, Siddaramaiah has been contemptuous of former CM HD Kumaraswamy and never reconciled to the fact that he became the CM in 2018. Shivakumar will have to do a balancing act as he has mended fences with the Deve Gowda family. Interestingly, both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar share a good rapport with Sonia Gandhi. While the high command looks upon Siddaramaiah as one who can hold the party and legislators together, notwithstanding the ginger camps, Shivakumar is seen as the go-to man for all matters. Naheed Ataulla is a journalist who covered Karnataka politics for over two decades and is former Political Editor of The Times of India. Views expressed are the author’s own.
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