DK Shivakumar warns against statements to media amid growing calls for adding more DY CM posts

Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar sought to quell the debate around increasing the number of deputy CM posts, by saying the contenders would get no solutions airing their demands before the media. Chief minister Siddaramaiah had warned his ministers not to fuel the ongoing debate by issuing statements in public, Shivakumar said on Thursday.

The CM, he added, had reportedly spoken to minister for cooperation KN Rajanna, one of the contenders for the post and asked him to refrain from commenting on the topic. “Media can only give publicity but not solutions. There is no need for some of the partymen to talk to the media about party matters. I also don’t talk about it in the media. They should go to the High command and seek solutions for their demands,” he said.

The debate around increasing the number of deputy CMs – mostly from ministers in Siddaramaiah’s camp – are fuelling speculations around him wanting to keep his Vokkaliga deputy Shivakumar in check, amidst rumours that the latter might seek the CM post for himself. Shivakumar has been the only deputy in the regime after the AICC resolved a tough contest between him and Siddaramaiah for the CM’s post when the party won the assembly polls last year.


The issue had flared up again with Rajanna and a few ministers exerting pressure on the government arguing that community-wise posts of deputy CM would help the party electorally, especially after the loss in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi and Minority Affairs Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan have added their voices to the debate, airing the idea on various platforms. While Rajanna and Jarkiholi belong to the Scheduled Tribe (ST), Khan is a Muslim, and he said that it has been a long-standing demand of the Muslims to have a deputy CM from the community.

Rajanna has been angling for the post of the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) as well, even going so far as to say that he is ready to resign from his ministership for the purpose. “Whenever the party decides to change him [Shivakumar], I will surely be an aspirant for the post. I am even ready to resign from the minister’s post and won’t even contest polls in future, be it Assembly, Council or Lok Sabha,” he said in May. The KPCC, however, issued a clarification, saying there would be no change in the post in the near future, and that Shivakumar would continue to lead future poll battles.