11.5.13

Change in the Grand Old Party....


 The chief minister-elect of Karnataka K Siddaramaiah beat Union minister Mallikarjun Kharge to the post and will be administered oath of office on Monday. He will be the only one to be sworn in. A source said Siddaramaiah secured 80 votes out of 121. The secret ballot method used to elect Siddaramaiah suggests that the Congress party is changing its methods of selecting its leader. Unlike in the past, there was neither delay nor a sealed cover containing the name of the new leader. The CLP leader was elected through secret ballot, a sign, perhaps, of greater inner-party democracy. Party leaders said the entire process was hassle-free.
“The election was democratic. The opinion of all legislators was taken and discussed with Sonia Gandhi. After her approval, I have been unanimously elected CLP leader,” Siddaramaiah said.
The election process began around 12.30 pm. Apart from the new MLAs, central observers A K Antony, Jitendra Singh and Luizinho Falerio and AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry attended the meeting. First, the legislators’ meeting passed a resolution moved by Siddaramaiah, authorizing Sonia to choose a CLP leader. After this, observers asked MLAs for their opinion in writing.
They were given a piece of paper and asked to write their constituency number and the name of the leader they wanted to be the chief minister and were told not to put their names on it. The observers collected the chits, collated the opinion and informed Sonia over phone. After her approval, around 4 pm, Antony announced that Siddaramaiah had been chosen the leader.
The manner in which the election was held also suggested that the high command was in a hurry to complete the formalities. Sonia appointed the observers a day after the poll results were announced on May 8.
The crowd in front of the KPCC office got a clear indication of the result much before the formal announcement, as Kharge left around 3.20 pm, declining to comment on the developments.
In the evening, KPCC president G. Parameshwara and Mistry met governor H.R. Bhardwaj and staked the party’s claim to form the government. Following this, Siddaramaiah got an invite from the governor.


In picking Siddaramaiah, the Congress junked its philosophy of choosing “weak and manageable” leaders to head state governments out of fear that power in the hands of satraps would leave the leadership vulnerable to arm-twisting and rebellion, as with the YSR-Jagan duo in Andhra Pradesh.
The elevation of the OBC chieftain marks a seminal moment in the Congress game of centralized leadership revolving around proven allegiance to the Gandhi family. The party’s choice of CMs, though reflecting sycophancy, also stemmed from the pragmatism that installing leaders with potential to become autonomous would be inimical to the party.
Observers found the decision to pick Siddaramaiah surprising as the alternative to him was a perfect fit for the Congress — Mallikarjuna Kharge, a dalit leader of proven loyalty. Siddaramaiah is his own man – wielding a strong support base among backwards and with a proven record as administrator. He quit the JD(S) in 2006 after H D Deve Gowda began to promote son H D Kumaraswamy.
In the Congress, he remained an outsider and had to flex muscles to become leader of the opposition in 2007. Though such a profile in the past would have sent jitters among party brass, the policy turn stems from Rahul Gandhi’s announcement at the Jaipur ‘chintan shivir’ that the party has to groom state leaders to regain political muscle.
The preference for Siddaramaiah stands in stark contrast to the picks in Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In each, Congress preferred to be safe than sorry, still reeling under the chaos wrought by YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s death. The preference for Vijay Bahuguna ahead of Harish Rawat, Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana and Prithviraj Chavan in Maharashtra were criticized from within.
However,the strategy came unstuck in Himachal Pradesh where Virbhadra Singh revolted on being sidelined last December and is now the party’s CM for the fourth time. A success with Siddaramaiah could revive the era of satraps as sought by Rahul.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Now that we have a man of humble beginnings as the CM, who is academically qualified and credited with a law degree, I am sure Karnataka will return to a semblance of respectability. Hitches & glitches are expected in Indian politics, but I am sure he will circumvent those.