Whoever is watching the political developments in Karnataka is bound to be very confused. There are no familiar scenes that a power play usually throws up. The two principal protagonists, seemingly antagonists—Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar—are not directly punching each other. They have neither confirmed the crisis nor denied it. Their supporters have not taken to the streets. No lobby or caste groups have signalled unrest. None have paraded legislators, none have rushed to the Raj Bhavan, and unlike in the past, nobody has transported their flock to fancy resorts. Yet, the crisis is real and palpable.
With the loudness of a power grab absent, one wonders if this is a new way of doing politics in India, or if this is the end of politics? Is this about a dignified exercise, or is it a quiet mafioso-like operation, where no one really knows who is contracted to do the act, when, at what cost, and who eventually is assigned to pull the trigger. One would perhaps realise that the deed is done when a cold pool of blood draws a picture.
In the Modi-Shah era, the BJP has perfected the art of leadership change in states without a mess or a whimper. First of all, it offers no clue about an impending change; and when it does, it shocks its own cadres because the person rewarded would have been outside anybody’s reckoning. They have ensured that power and predictability are permanently divorced. This has built a mythology about their command and control. In such a political milieu, the Congress cannot be seen getting noisy and chaotic about its leadership games.
Therefore, perhaps to ensure that there is no public blow-up, as a new art of suppressing tension, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have been put on a naïve diplomatic exercise where they get into each other’s dining room, and into each other’s mind. They serve and savour idlis, chutneys and chicken curry made from free-range fowls, and in all civility that looks troubled on the creases of their clothes, they come out and issue a joint statement. They mostly speak on the recipes of dishes served and all those that remained unserved. They dodge power-sharing questions and leave things as vague as they were when they went in.
Rahul Gandhi has always practised an unconventional approach to political power, and this may be his new formula—to create more hug-and-handshake moments for warring leaders so that they forget their original intent. It is about testing the ‘mohabbat ka dukaan’ formula when desire and hate are simply expected to dissolve as you walk aimlessly for miles.
Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are old war horses who have, at different points in their careers, grabbed or managed power by forcefully staking claim. But now, they are being taught a new game of postponement and procrastination that has never been part of their decisive armouries.
In 1996, 2004, 2008, and 2013, Siddaramaiah had beaten the drums of his claims to the chair. He had threatened to rebel, and actually rebelled. He changed parties and ideologies in pursuit of power. He nudged out opponents and set up their defeats. In 1996, he wanted to be chief minister in place of J H Patel. In 2004, he became bitter when N Dharam Singh was made CM. In 2006, he was expelled from the Janata Dal (Secular) because he plotted against his own party. In 2008, he wanted Mallikarjun Kharge’s chair as opposition leader in the assembly. In 2013, he was accused of ensuring the then party president G Parameshwara’s defeat, and leaving behind Kharge in the CM’s race. In 2019, he allegedly sent his own men across to the BJP to bring down the fragile H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government. When he became CM for the first time, he did not even induct Shivakumar into his cabinet initially. He made him wait and sweat for months.
Similarly, Shivakumar cultivated the image of a toughie who was always a troubleshooter for the party. When he made claims about saving Congress regimes from collapse, and manoeuvring victories for senior leaders, nobody contested his claims. Arguably, he is one of the early proponents of the resort model of politics where legislators were ‘coup-ed’ up in blemished five-star luxury. In short, he was seen by his opponents as a super upgraded version of the money-and-muscle game.
While Shivakumar always shouted slogans for others in the party, and wanted to look like the power behind the throne, Siddaramaiah shouted slogans for nobody except himself. If Shivakumar embodies the old Congress culture that strays often into sycophantic territory, Siddaramaiah has looked like a man who has operated with pride and discourtesies of someone who believes that he was made all by himself.
And now, the two leaders with these contrasting histories have been put to pasture by Rahul Gandhi, in grazing lands they are unfamiliar with and probably unconvinced about. Perhaps age has sobered them. Perhaps there is pressure to rebrand themselves and appear un-competing. They are both playing each other’s minds, or playing out each other’s patience.
In this game of coyness and deference, the two have done something very interesting. They have parried every query put to them to the high command. They have consistently said various versions of ‘high command will decide’. By doing this, they have put the Congress top leadership, largely perceived to have weakened after successive defeats, to a grave test—quite literally. For all the self-righteous talk that happens in the Congress circles in Delhi, they are now being asked, indirectly of course, to honour their word, whatever that was decided upon in 2023. Shivakumar has said that five people are aware of the agreement.
Surprisingly, Kharge, who is himself in the high command as the party’s national president, has also said—with habitual tactfulness—that the high command would resolve the crisis. In other words, he too has pushed the crisis to the doorstep of the Congress dynasty. Therefore, this crisis will test the mettle of the family, nobody else. To rise or ruin is their burden.
Sugata Srinivasaraju | Senior journalist and author of Strange Burdens: The Politics and Predicaments of Rahul Gandhi
(Views are personal)
(sugatasriraju@gmail.com)
