Dalit officers upset with CM?

Senior IAS and KAS officers are reportedly not co-operating with the majority of ministers. What is worrisome for the Congress government is the disenchantment of Dalit officers who have virtually disassociated themselves from the government while an equally powerful section of senior officers from the Vokkaliga, Lingayat and Brahmin communities are at loggerheads with the CM and his camp for various reasons, claimed sources.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle a senior bureaucrat disclosed on the condition of anonymity that generally when a Congress government comes to power, it draws its strength from Dalit officers as among the bureaucrats, Dalits constitute a large chunk though Vokkaligas, Lingayats and Brahmins are present in large numbers.

“Karnataka’s bureaucracy can be easily divided into four groups, who control power. After Dalits, it is Brahmins who are in large numbers closely followed by Lingayats and Vokkaligas.”

“However, whenever leaders belonging to the Backward Classes became CM except for late Devaraj Urs, none of them were able to stick too long in the post,” the source explained. The source further contended that Congress leaders drew strength from Dalit officers while getting minor support from the other groups. This in the past had helped the Congress to push their programmes and deliver what they had promised.

“Dalit officers have distanced themselves from Mr Siddaramaiah completely because they feel he has not fulfilled their expectation on two counts. First, the moment he joined the Congress, he ensured that Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge did not get the required number of seats in the 2008 assembly elections by making his community back the BJP, while the second time, he openly worked against incumbent KPCC president, Dr G. Parameshwar ensuring his defeat in Koratagere during the 2013 polls. His open disdain for Brahmins and Vokkaligas earned him the wrath of officers from these communities. As for the Lingayats, they have never been too close to Congress governments in the past too. Now, the style of functioning of the CM has led to alienation of the Vokkaligas and Brahmins besides Dalits too,” the source asserted.

The source added that what had compounded problems for Mr Siddaramaiah is his behaviour with top bureaucrats. “Being CM, he has every right to pull up officials who does not follow rules or do not execute his commands. But he has rubbed too many top bureaucrats the wrong way by publicly ridiculing hard working officials who command enormous respect in the bureaucracy. This has earned him the tag of being a ‘bad captain’ in the top job. Therefore, Mr Siddaramaiah’s efforts at providing good governance are not yielding the desired results,” the source said.