The Siddaramaiah phenomenon in Karnataka Politics | P. S. Jayaramu

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is very much in the news both at tbe state and national level due to his alleged involvement in the MUDA issue relating to allotment of alternative sites to his wife Parvathi. Following a representation by activist and lawyer T J Abraham to the Governor, the latter accorded permission within 24 hours to investigate the matter. Quite expectedly, Siddaramaiah contested the Governor’s decision in the High Court by appointing the high-profile Abhishek Manu Singhvi as his lawyer. After a prolonged hearing, the Judge upheld the Governor’s decision and recommended a detailed investigation of the issue to unravel the truth. The Special Court, which was dealing with the matter went a step further and asked the Mysore Lok Ayukta branch to investigate the matter and submit a report within three months. The MUDA isuue will continue to be in the news with Siddaramaiah determined to fight it out legally before a division bench of the High Court and at the Supreme Court if necessary. The Opposition BJP-JD(S) combine has upped the ante by strongly demanding Siddaramaiah’s resignation as CM to allow a fair and free investigation. Prime Minister has been quick enough to attack the Congress Party in his election campaigns in the ongoing Haryana assembly elections.

At the time of writing, the Congress Party, has decided to stay solidly behind Siddaramaiah though it is well known that a couple of senior Congressmen are candidates for the CM’s ‘gaddi’. It is possible that the Congress High Command may adopt ‘a go slow strategy’ at least till the beginning of the winter session of the Parliament. Going by how the issue will unfold itself further by then, the Party High Command, specially Rahul Gandhi, may come up with a decision in the interests of the larger national image of the Party as well as to carry on its fight against the Modi Government,even if it means asking Siddaramaiah to resign as Chief Minister. How Siddaramaiah would respond to such a dictat, if it were to come about, is open to question. He may oblige or defy the High Command. The issue deserved o be followed closely.

The larger purpose of this write-up is to highlight the Siddaramaiah phenomenon in the larger context of Karnataka Politics. Though Siddaramaiah entered the Karnataka Assembly in 1983 on a Bharathiya Lok Dal ticket, he soon joined the Janata Party. Initially he was President of the Kannada Kavalu Samiti to supervise the implementation of Kannada as official language, a task which was assigned to him by the then CM R. K. Hegde. In 1985, Siddaramaiah joined R. K. Hegde’s Government as a minister,during his second term. The split in the Janata Party led to Siddaramaiah joining Janata Dal (S) However, due to his differences with Deve Gowda and conscious of his backward class background and identity, Siddaramaiah created the ‘Ahinda’ group, representing the minorities, backwards and the Dalits.Though he intially toyed with the idea of setting up a regional party, he subsequently gave up the idea and joined the Congress Party in 2006. From then on, there was no looking back for Siddaramaiah. He started consolidating his position in the Party lacked a mass OBC leader within its fold. In the 2013 Assembly elections he played a pivotal role in bringing the Congress to power. In keeping with his commitment to Socialism and Social Justice, Siddaramaiah introduced many welfare scheme, like the Anna Bhagya scheme for the benefit of the the BPL families.

As a champion of the OBCs, Siddaramaiah has many things in common with the late Devaraj Urs, who, as the Chief Minister, was the first to put an end to the dominance of the Lingayats and Vokkaligas in State Politics by implementing a slew of backward class policies with reservation for OBCs in education and employment. Furthermore, in keeping with his committment to social justice, during his first term as CM, Siddaramaiah appointed the Kantharajaiah Commission to prepare a Social and Educational Survey, popularly known as “caste census”, with the objective of enhancing opportunities for the backward classes to play their role in State Politics, apart from availing educational, social and economic benefits. The Commission reportedly pointed to the decline of Lingayat and Vokkaliga population and the rise of SCSTs, OBCs, including Muslims. Now in his second term as CM, contrary to the expectations that he would implement the Commission report, more so, in keeping with Rahul Gandhi’s advocacy of backward census and reservation, Siddaramaiah is going slow on the implementation of the report perhaps due to opposition from the majority communities within his ministry.

In the 2023 Assembly elections, Siddaramaiah played an instrumental role in the Party’s announcement of the Five Guarantees, which in a way guaranteed the victory of the Party in the polls with a thumping majority of 136 seats. Having played an important role in Karnataka Politics from 1983 to the present, it is unfortunate that Siddaramaiah is facing an ‘agni Pariksha’ of sorts during the sun-set years of his political career. As a leader who has enjoyed a clean image so far, may be, Siddaramaiah should have behaved like a Statesman and surrendered the land allotted to his wife by the MUDA, while announcing his decision about the one-man Commission to investigate the issue. That would have ethically and politically placed him on a stronger footing in facing the issue legally as well as the Opposition.

(Author: P. S. Jayaram is a former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Bangalore University and a former Senior Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi)