Siddaramaiah revives AHINDA narrative to cement position ahead of LS polls

In a bid to consolidate his position in Karnataka and help the Congress in the 2024 battle, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will hold a mammoth convention of 'depressed' communities from across the state in January.

The ‘Shoshitara Jagruthi Samavesha'’ (Awareness Convention for Suppressed Classes) is meant to cement Siddaramaiah’s status as the tallest AHINDA leader in the southern state. AHINDA stands for Alpasankhyata (minority), Hinduilidavara (OBC) and Dalitaru (SC/ST) communities.

The January 28 gathering at Chitradurga, 205 km from Bengaluru, will be held along the lines of the 75th birthday celebrations of Siddaramaiah in 2022, which his supporters say gave momentum to the Congress ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.

The gathering will help AHINDA communities publicly put pressure on the government to accept the caste census report without delay – a stand that will be in opposition to the dominant upper castes in Karnataka.

Massive crowd expected

A member of January’s Welcome Committee, K Ramachandrappa, who was also in the "Siddaramotsava Team", told The Federal that around 10 lakh people were expected at the convention.

“The number may cross 10 lakh… The programme will be held in a ground which is 100 acres huge,” he said.

The aim is to showcase Siddaramaiah as the unquestioned leader in the state Congress, said an AHINDA leader. “We also want to make it clear that no one can question Siddaramaiah's leadership as the chief minister," he said, amid continuing murmurs from the camp of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. There is a fierce competition for the leadership of the backward classes in the Congress.

MLC and former Congress general secretary BK Hariprasad had also planned an AHINDA convention in January.

It is said that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who is from Karnataka, has asked Hariprasad not to conduct any separate event and emphasised the importance of unity with the party.

Leadership tussle

Hariprasad is said to be eyeing the leadership of Billawas (Eedigas), which are the second-biggest community after Kurubas in the OBC groups.

Siddaramaiah has displayed his political appeal through massive conventions from time to time. Another reason to show Siddaramaiah’s supremacy in the Congress is to kill the possible revival of elevating Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar to the chief minister’s post after the Lok Sabha elections. The organisers of the January meeting also plan to invite party chief Kharge as well as Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. There is also a proposal to invite Shivakumar although he is not from a depressed community.

Siddaramaiah has also asked his ministers and party MLAs to conduct public gatherings and meetings at the district level to showcase the guarantee schemes already implemented by his government in the state.