TWO FACES TO PICK FROM
It’s a fuss over a very public birthday bash. Starting this week, Congress leaders in Karnataka are planning to hold celebratory events in various cities in the state as a run-up to a grand public rally in August. The occasion? Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and Leader of Opposition in the assembly, turns 75.
The rally planned for the Congress leader’s birthday on August 3 in the central Karnataka town of Davanagere has been in the news for the past couple of weeks. Firstly, its organisers want to make it a big show—about five lakh people from various parts of the state are expected to attend. But more significantly, it had piqued curiosity as to how other prominent leaders– chiefly D.K. Shivakumar, who heads the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee—would respond to
THE RALLY TO MARK SIDDARAMAIAH’S BIRTHDAY HAS BOILED DOWN TO HIS APPARENT RIVALRY WITH SHIVAKUMAR
what’s perceived as a bid for oneupmanship.
Siddaramaiah has pointed out that he has seldom celebrated his birthday, so as to deny any role in drawing up the plan. In fact, for a long time he had put down August 12, 1948, as his date of birth, till he happened to visit his old school where records showed it was August 3, 1947, he told an interviewer.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar took the sagacious position that supporters couldn’t be stopped from holding commemorative events for their leaders although, personally, he always discouraged his followers from organising such events. On his sixtieth birthday on May 15 this year, Shivakumar travelled to Kedarnath. But his brother D.K. Suresh put things across more directly at a recent meeting to discuss the upcoming event—a Lok Sabha member from Bengaluru Rural, Suresh’s concern was that it shouldn’t adversely impact the party in an election year.
In the Karnataka Congress, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are the two foremost leaders—one a former chief minister, and the other the state party chief. Both are seen to be positioning themselves as the face of the party, and as its chief ministerial candidate, given that Karnataka is heading to polls in about
eight months. Congress leaders claim that their internal surveys are in line with the party’s expectations of winning a majority in the next elections.
The underlying conflict between the two, says a party functionary, is visible in the projection of potential candidates in various assembly seats. This rivalry is also something that Karnataka’s ruling BJP likes to play up—so much so that, riled by its jibes over his birthday celebrations, Siddaramaiah recently took to Twitter, pointing out the BJP’s own internal squabbles in Karnataka.
The equations between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have been an ongoing curiosity, and often enough, it is partymen themselves who trigger discussion, like legislator Zameer Ahmed Khan did a couple of months ago when he prayed for Siddaramaiah to become CM again. Back in January, the two leaders had similarly come under close scrutiny during a Congress padayatra, which was seen as Shivakumar’s show—the Congress had put up a united face then. Even in April, when Rahul Gandhi visited Bengaluru, his advice to the party leadership was to work unitedly.
The ‘Siddaramaiah 75 Amrut Mahotsava’ isn’t a party function, but an event to celebrate a person who is among the tallest leaders in Karnataka cutting across parties, says former minister Basavaraj Rayareddi, who is part of the committee planning the jamboree. “So, we, his friends and admirers, have decided to celebrate his 75th birthday in a meaningful way.”
The plan is to invite cultural figures at the citywise gatherings at Mysore, Gulbarga and Hubli, while the big rally in Davanagere—which Rahul Gandhi will attend—brings in party workers from across the state. All top Congress leaders in Karnataka, including Shivakumar, will be there, says Rayareddi. “They are not at loggerheads. Everyone has their desires to become a CM, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s all unnecessary, false propaganda,” he says. ■