Wannabe KPCC chief D K Shivakumar told to wait as Congress weighs faction fallout

Bengaluru: Waiting in the wings to be Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, D K Shivakumar has been told to wait for some time until the party makes up its mind on similar appointments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The party is so riven with factions that any decision on any of these states is likely to lead a bout of sulking by one or other faction. So, for the time being, wait.

To keep D K Shivakumar appeased, the party paradropped its gen sec Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is supposed to be close to the man.

Azad was in Bengaluru yesterday to attend a meeting organized by Kashmiri Muslims, and on his way to the airport for the return flight, he made a detour to Shivakumar's residence this morning. And so was the amber light shown to the strongman.

In all there are five states in which the Congress is faced with squabbling factions each vying for the leadership positions.

In Karnataka in particular, the party is poised to made two crucial decisions: one on the new KPCC chief, and second whether to give the roles of Congress Legislature Party leader and leader of the opposition to two different individuaos. These two decisions have been put on hold for at least a month, till the budget session in Karnataka and the Parliament session are on.

The leadership squabble in Karnataka has been an open secret for five years. One faction is headed by former chief minister Siddaramaiah, a migrant from the Janata Dal(S). Old loyalists of the party have been cribbing since then as Siddaramaiah’s supporters have come to dominate the party. Their discomfort is more acute because the AICC man for Karnataka, K C Venugopal, also supports the Siddaramaiah group. Venugopal's dislike for Shivakumar too is an open secret because the latter is close to Venugopal's arch rival in Kerala, Ramesh Chennithala. As long as M/s Venugopal and Siddaramaiah had the blessings of Rahul Gandhi, the old-timers had no choice but to sulk in the corner.

Talk of Shivakumar becoming KPCC chief has been in the air since he came out of jail. His candidature was greenlighted by y Sonia Gandhi and the decks were cleared. But then, Rahul Gandhi, protector of the Venugopal-Siddaramaiah combine, made something of a return to being de facto head of the party.

Thus encouraged, Venugopal and Siddaramaiah have become active to protect their interests in the party. A lot of other ‘developments' too have happened in Karnataka, which, to the high command out there, have been signals to go slow.

The party has therefore done what it does when faced with a difficult decision: put it off to later.