Speculation is that there could be a third group emerging within the Karnataka unit, besides those of D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.
NEW DELHI: With a new leader at the helm of Congress, there is speculation among party leaders that there could be a third group emerging within the Karnataka unit, besides those of D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. A section of party leaders believe that new Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) being from Karnataka will give rise to the build-up of his own loyalists in the state.
It is further believed that Kharge might try to bring his son at the forefront in the state and nurse him as a CM face; however, party insiders say there would be no success in that as there already are two powerful groups within the party who won’t let any kind of third group grow among the already powerful groups.
A senior political analyst in the state said that the already existing two groups will be the Kharge groups as he knows that more groups create more trouble for the leadership and his experience evolving around the years would tell him that he has been a party loyalist and worked closely with the Gandhis to strengthen the organisation.
A Congress leader said that the prime focus of Kharge would be to bring the two leaders together at the political front and remind them that one of the two will eventually not be the CM face. However, the party is believed not to be declaring its CM face before the elections and would do so only after the elections are over and the Congress is victorious. Congress spokesperson Karnataka and state general secretary, Shah Nizamudin said, “This is a senseless speculation and has no substance; they are just trying to attack the Gandhi family and it is just a propaganda. There is zero probability that there will be a third front, Kharge has come from the bottom of the political pyramid, he understands the DNA of the Congress, he has been a Congressman right from the beginning and understands the genesis of the party. He understands the contribution made by the party and Congress leaders for the country, so when he works he is going to work for the Congress, for its uplift rather than creating a third front and become the voice of the people.”
Talking about the already existing factions within the party, people close to the two party leaders (D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah) believe the padh yatra has allowed both the leaders to spend more time with Gandhis and each other and it is being interpreted by close leaders that the message has been conveyed that Karnataka is going to be a very important election and a bad show in it could be the last nail in the Congress’ coffin where the political analysts believe the party has a strong standing against the BJP. It has supposedly been advised to both the leaders to strengthen the organisation and make it politically and electorally strong on the ground. “Both the leaders are ambitious and there will be no reduction in that, but both of them have keen sense of politics and they would go by wisdom and try to win the electrons first. The differences could be tackled later,” a Congress leader said.