Conspiracy to topple CM Siddaramaiah? No way, say Congress leaders

Is there a conspiracy to oust the new Congress government led by Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah? Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar believes so but other Congress leaders dismiss the possibility.

Shivakumar, who also heads the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, has alleged that the conspiracy was brewing in Singapore.

His statement, which has created ripples in political circles, came while Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy — a trenchant Congress critic — is touring Finland with his family.

Siddaramaiah says he is not aware of any conspiracy in Singapore or anywhere else to topple his government which took office only in May.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says it is not up to any mischief, and that any conspiracy, if indeed true, must be known only to Shivakumar.

Shivakumar himself has not elaborated on the alleged conspiracy, nor has he said who he suspects is behind the scheming.

Congress unrest

The fact that there is visible disaffection within the ruling Congress party is adding to the suspense.

Senior Congress leader BK Hariprasad’s claim that he played “a big role” in deciding who should be the chief minister of Congress-governed states has embarrassed the Karnataka government.

Since then, Shivakumar has held discussions with Hariprasad.

Also, around 35 Congress MLAs are reportedly upset with around 20 district charge ministers for allegedly not releasing official funds and not considering their suggestions to transfer officers to their constituencies.

Though some of these leaders claim a letter supposedly from them and doing the rounds on social media is a fake, the signatures are of the MLAs who lobbied in Delhi for ministerial berths during the formation of the Siddaramaiah cabinet.

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A Congress leader who did not want to be named told The Federal that there were always disaffected rebels in any government and unhappy MLAs were a reality of life.

“But MLAs writing letters is a major development as it indicates that everything is not right in the party. This is so unfortunate for a young government,” he said.

Defiant Congress

But most Congress leaders say there is no threat to the Siddaramaiah government.

In the 224-member Karnataka assembly, any party must have at least 113 MLAs to form the government. The Congress has 135 members.

Thus, at least 56 Congress MLAs must defect for the Congress government to be reduced to a minority and make way for BJP and JDS to form a coalition government.

Is this possible? The BJP and JDS have together 84 MLAs.

Can, then, two-third of the MLAs from Congress merge with BJP or JDS to topple the government? This also seems impossible.

Of course, Siddaramaiah or Shivakumar have enough clout to the split the Congress in Karnataka but neither will want to do it.

Congress sources also point out that the conspiracy angle has come up ahead of elections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh besides Telangana and Mizoram where the party is confident of doing well.

What MLAs want

Some MLAs must be putting pressure on the chief minister to make them ministers in a future cabinet reshuffle or name them as heads of various government bodies, political analyst Alvin Mendonca said.

There is no doubt that the Congress sweep in Karnataka in May has shocked both the JD(S) and the BJP.

The leaders of the two parties are increasingly seen to be working in tandem.

Kumaraswamy showed his solidarity with the BJP when the Speaker suspended 10 BJP MLAs for creating commotion in the House.

A JD(S) source insists that Kumaraswamy wants to be a part of the Modi government at the Centre. “This is why he is supporting the BJP so much,” the source said.

Amid all this, no further details of the supposed conspiracy are available.