In Congress, it is open season for all stakeholders to slug it out without any fear of retribution. When the high command is enfeebled, the rules in the political jungle change
If there was a contest for scoring political self-goals, the Congress party would almost certainly strike gold. The Karnataka ‘nataka’ or ‘Game of Thrones’ has kept the news wheel churning for weeks. Kaun Banega Mukhya Mantri, D K Shivakumar (DKS) or Siddaramaiah (Sidda), is only the latest Congress political soap opera being played out in full media glare: even the breakfast menu at the meetings between the two leaders has been dissected in some detail. Ambitious regional satraps and a weakened high command are a potent mix for creating a rather messed-up, spicy Kannadiga thali. So who is responsible for the growing perception of drift and chaos in the Congress’ one last remaining large state fortress?
Let us start with the highly skilled Bengaluru power players first. DKS and Sidda are like chalk and cheese. The former is a quintessential party strongman, resourceful and rumbustious in equal measure. DKS’ swagger has a Big Boss look to it, an astute deal-maker who does not hide his vaulting ambition in any false piety. Sidda, on the other hand, is the old-style neta, much more cautious in his moves but very crafty at the same time. Where DKS won’t hold back from speaking his mind, Sidda chooses to couch his mono-syllabic interventions in ambiguity, carefully designed to keep his opponents guessing all the time.
Track record of DKS points to staunch party loyalty and organisational success, Sidda has positioned himself as a mass leader of a wider coalition of backward castes, Dalits and Muslims. In an ideal world, the Congress would have found space to accommodate both the leaders relatively amicably. But these are far from good times for a moth-eaten Grand Old Party, its once insatiable appetite for power and conflict resolution now sapped by years of inertia and ineptitude.
Take for example the idea of a two and half year each rotational chief ministership. It is, frankly, a bizarre concept, one that is mostly unworkable in the Indian context. No one leaves any ‘kursi’ voluntarily in this country. If indeed the Congress leadership had promised DKS chief ministership after two and half years of Sidda rule, they were clearly driven by the dictum once bitten, twice bitten, third time still not shy. The rotational chief ministership idea collapsed in Rajasthan in acrimony and rebellion, it was sabotaged at the last stretch in Chhattisgarh, why would it work in Karnataka?
The problem is that the so-called Congress ‘high command’ is unwilling or unable to take the tough decisions that are required in tough times. The Congress’ ‘revival’, or more likely survival, in the 2024 general elections had earned Rahul Gandhi the goodwill and, more crucially, the respect of his own party cadres. A copy of the Constitution in hand, he had led from the front to challenge the BJP juggernaut. His opponents may have mocked him but within the Congress, Rahul’s unwavering resolve to take on the Sangh Parivar firmly established him as the party’s unquestioned leader. But instead of enforcing his writ within the party organisation as a hands-on politician, Rahul chose to outsource knotty organisational issues to his loyalists, more specifically to K C Venugopal, now the second most powerful person within the Congress ‘system’.
As a result, the gains of 2024 were quickly squandered. Haryana’s debacle was the result of sheer over-confidence, Maharashtra was effectively ‘bought’ by the BJP with cash transfers to women playing a major role in the last-minute heist, while the Congress campaigns in Delhi and Bihar were always non-starters. With every defeat, the Congress ‘high command’ appears even more reluctant to make hard political choices, living by the old Narasimha Rao dictum that ‘sometimes in politics, not taking a decision is the best decision’!
But who really is the high command because it now seems a rather archaic term to use for an entity that is neither ‘high’ nor in ‘command’ any longer. The ‘high command’ isn’t Sonia Gandhi any longer, as she is in semi-retirement; it isn’t Malikarjun Kharge, as he isn’t the kind who will rock the boat; it surely isn’t Priyanka Gandhi Vadra because she has not been given any specific responsibility within the party. Which leaves Rahul Gandhi as the one Congress leader, who has the authority to take crucial decisions. But all indications suggest that Rahul’s self-image is that of an ideological warrior and not an organisation nuts-and-bolts man that the Congress so desperately needs.
Which brings one back to the Congress’ Karnataka conundrum. To be fair, there are no easy options here. Sidda still enjoys the support of a majority of the MLAs and his OBC credentials make him an invaluable asset to the Congress’ professed commitment to being a party that seeks to empower the backwards. DKS is 63, 14 years younger and far more energetic than his rival who will early next year become Karnataka’s longest serving chief minister. A transition from Sidda to DKS would mean a generational change of sorts in a party that has been notoriously reluctant to send its veteran leaders into a ‘Marg-Darshak Mandal’.
Previously, in MP and Rajasthan, the Congress baulked at the idea of a generational change and lost out. Karnataka presents another opportunity although Sidda is no pushover who will retreat into the shadows quietly.
Even if there is a semblance of a smooth handover some time in 2027 as is now widely speculated, how long will the truce last? The BJP can get away with forcing the resignations of all its Gujarat ministers overnight without a murmur of dissent. This is because the real ‘high command’ in Indian politics is at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg and 6 A Krishna Menon Marg where all major decisions affecting the BJP are taken.
The Congress does not have anything remotely quite like Gujarat’s jodi number one who can have their way on almost every issue. There are intense power tussles in several BJP states too, most notably Goa, but no leader dare say a word publicly because of the fear factor that prevails in the ruling party.
(Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author.)
