The battle for supremacy in Karnataka’s Kolar district between a group of Congress MLAs and a cabinet minister continues to disturb the schedules of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the party’s state unit president DK Shivakumar.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had to spend a few hours to resolve the crisis that has brought the ‘dynasty politics’ factor into sharper focus. The party had no problems when progenies of several cabinet ministers were nominated to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. But the efforts of Food and Civil Supplies minister KH Muniyappa to get his son-in-law Chikanna Pedanna the party ticket has run into serious trouble with five MLAs and two MLCs, who are threatening to resign.
The primary objection of the legislators is that the Muniyappa family cannot be having a ministerial post, chairmanship of a state board for the daughter who is already an MLA and now potentially a Lok Sabha for the son-in-law.
The legislators’ meeting with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who is also the deputy chief minister, has only led to the former saying they will discuss the issue with Congress national president Mallikarjuna Kharge. A confident Siddaramaiah has claimed that the matter would be resolved shortly and that every disgruntled MLA would be spoken to individually.
Those protesting against the nepotism of the Muniyappa clan are Karnataka minister MC Sudhakar, Kothur MLA G Manjunath, Malur MLA KY Nanjegowda, Bangarpet MLA SN Narayanaswamy, and MLCs Anil Kumar and Naseer Ahmed.
Congress insiders close to the developments told News18 that Siddaramaiah appealed to the dissenting leaders not to take any harsh decisions and wait for the final decision to come from the Congress high command. It is learnt that the Chief Minister is expected to speak to Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi to communicate why the protesting Congressmen are against Pedanna’s candidature.
“We continue to say that any worthy candidate, be it from the SC Left or SC Right, should be given the Kolar Lok Sabha ticket, but we are totally opposed to Muniyappa and his family’s dominance,” said one of the MLAs, referring to the Dalit Right and Dalit Left sects that Scheduled Castes are divided into in Karnataka.
Another senior party leader privy to the developments said: “The CM has communicated to the dissenting leaders that he and Shivakumar will do all that they can to convince the high command on their demand. Ultimately, Muniyappa will have to relent as the Karnataka Congress will have to listen to what the local leaders are demanding. They are the ones who work on the ground. It only looks like Muniyappa is putting pressure, but will ultimately be checkmated.”
During their discussion with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, the dissenting leaders also expressed that they would withdraw their protest if a candidate from the SC Left or SC Right is chosen, but not if a member of Muniyappa’s family is picked. The group is reportedly leaning towards a candidate from the SC Right to be given a ticket this time from Kolar, but an SC Left name is also acceptable to them. There are around 4 lakh SC Right voters in Kolar district, and the community needs representation, say the leaders.
A week ago, Muniyappa held a meeting with top officials of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, where the minister claimed he was promised that the Kolar ticket would be given to his son-in-law. Later, in a another meeting with Mallikarjun Kharge, when the demand was made by the leader, he was assured by the Congress high command that it would be fulfilled.
Within days of reports surfacing that Muniyappa’s son-in-law Pedanna may get the ticket, revolt broke out within the Karnataka Congress where leaders from the Kolar district were seen up in arms against Muniyappa and any other family member getting the ticket.
Another dissenting leader told News18 that Muniyappa’s son-in-law had a series of corruption cases against him and has been on the radar of the Karnataka Lokayukta. Apart from this, Pedanna is also a serving government official who is yet to resign from his job. It would take him at least a month to resign and be relieved from his duties, by which crucial campaigning time would be lost.
Muniyappa has dug in his heels on getting a ticket for his son-in-law. He reacted saying that at least 10 relatives of ministers and Congress MLAs have been given tickets for the Lok Sabha polls this time. “I am insisting on one as well. My decision will depend on what the final outcome would be. I reiterate that I will follow what the high command says on the issue. But let me tell you that giving a ticket to a person who does not win would prove useless. You need a winner and I have faced many elections and know how to win one,” Muniyappa said.
He also took a jibe at the dissenting legislators and called their protest a “drama”. “None of them will resign. It’s just drama. The idea is to stage one like this and threaten the ruling government as they are afraid that if Muniyappa is given a ticket, it’s a sure-shot win,” he added.
Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, defended the protesting leaders and took objection to the dissent being called a “drama”.
“Who is saying this? It was not ‘drama’. It is natural that if one group says something, the other will react with something else. The issue has not been resolved yet,” the CM said.
Shivakumar also tried to quell the dissent by stating that no final decision has been taken yet and some of the legislators panicked as they “assumed” that a ticket to Pedanna was final.
“We have not announced the ticket for anyone and it will be a decision taken collectively. Everyone has to toe the party line. Our priority is to maintain discipline within the party,” the deputy CM said.
The dissenting leaders have decided to wait for the final decision from the Congress high command and remain silent on the issue until then.