Is discord growing in Cong? Siddu-Shivakumar functioning raises eyebrows

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Fissures have reemerged within the Congress state government over leadership as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar appear to be not functioning in tandem in some administrative matters.

For instance, the two bigwigs recently visited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) office separately following the successful soft landing on Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar South Pole.

Shivakumar made sure to visit the ISRO headquarters in Peenya on the evening of Wednesday, the day of the soft-landing to felicitate the body’s chairman S Somanath.

Siddarmaiah on the other hand made a call to the premises on Thursday. Moreover, the CM announced that 500 scientists would be felicitated at the Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha in the upcoming days.

This is despite Congress completing 100 days in power and successfully implementing four of the five guarantees.

The Gruha Lakshmi Yojane, under which Rs 2,000 would be distributed monthly to women in the state whose husbands are non-income taxpayers, would be inaugurated on August 30.

This leaves only the Yuva Nidhi scheme that provides allowance to unemployed youth to be implemented either in December or January.

DKS holds review meetings Shivakumar is also said to be making his presence felt in other departments as the Deputy CM held two separate review meetings with Minister for Medical Education and Skill Development Sharan Prakash Patil and Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Madhu Bangarappa, which had some in the Cabinet and the party in general fuming.

Some of them even complained to Siddaramaiah, pointing out that only the CM had the right to hold review meetings. The Deputy CM also raised eyebrows when he held a separate meeting in Mysuru with Woman and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar ahead of the launch of the Gruha Lakshmi Yojane.

Notably, Hebbalkar is in Shivakumar’s camp and Mysuru in considered Siddaramaiah’s home turf since he grew up in a village not too far from the city.

Shivakumar and his camp have taken ownership of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme since Hebbalkar is entrusted with the relevant portfolio. Congress MP from Wayanad and party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge are slated to attend the inauguration.

In July, Shivakumar had also ordered that an office be furnished for him on the first floor of Vidhana Soudha just outside the Assembly chamber, an honour reserved for the CM. Going farther back, the Congress chief ’s intervention in Belagavi politics had led to friction.

It was made worse by Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi and his protégé and then Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli going over to the BJP alongside 17 other lawmakers in the Operation Kamala back in July 2019.