Amid fire-fighting, Congress battles in-house machinations

New Delhi: The Congress high command is battling not only the crisis that has engulfed the JDS-Congress regime in Karnataka but also the machinations of the state party leadership.

The high command, it is learnt, is eager to demonstrate coalition flexibility to save the government there but much will depend on the accommodative attitude of the Deve Gowda family-led JDS and, importantly, the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka Congress faction. The resignation of die-hard senior Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy is a rebuke to the state leadership for denying him the PCC chief ’s post, which went to Siddaramaiah’s nominee Dinesh Gundu Rao, a novice.

The fact that some of the Congress MLAs who “resigned” on Saturday are known supporters of Siddaramaiah gives the impression that the former Congress CM, who has a political rivalry with the Gowda family, may be testing the waters. In fact, Siddaramaiah was not favourable to the idea of propping up HD Kumaraswamy government. Some rebel MLAs saying that they might consider withdrawing their resignations if Siddaramaiah is made the CM fuels the buzz around him that he might have played a role in the crisis.


Propping up senior Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge, an in-house opponent of Siddaramaiah, as a possible compromise CM candidate is seen as a JDS counter-operation. “This government can be saved if high command takes some hard decisions on the composition of ministry and acts against the mischiefmakers,” said a senior party leader.

There are indications of Gowda complaining to the top Congress leadership about the machinations of a Congress section. Consequently, a top Sonia Gandhi representative is learnt to have conveyed the high command’s unhappiness, especially the way Siddaramaiah failed to preempt rebellion.

Many leaders feel the evident drift in the Congress central leadership has emboldened both the unhappy elements within the coalition and rival BJP, prompting Congress to keep a close watch in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.