Amid rumblings, DKS asks Cong MLAs to shut up

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president, issued a gag order on all Congress MLAs, asking them not to speak publicly on internal party matters.

The diktat came after several days of rumblings and rabble-rousing, starting from Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi's claim of having his own group of "like-minded" MLAs to Government Chief Whip Ashok Pattan's statement on a midterm Cabinet reshuffle.

"No MLA should speak to the press on party matters, numbers, power-sharing, about who is supporting whom. There's the CM and me to speak... all 136 MLAs are one," Shivakumar said.

The final trigger for Shivakumar was Channagiri Congress MLA Basavaraju Shivaganga, whose statement indicated that the party was headed towards a factional show of strength. "There are 70 young, first-time MLAs who are strongly supporting Shivakumar," the MLA said.

On Pattan's assertion that a Cabinet reshuffle will happen after the Lok Sabha polls, Shivakumar said, "I don't want to comment. Some things discussed within the party are not for public disclosure. For now, I don't have such information."

Amid all the rumblings, party insiders are closely following the developments centred around Satish Jarkiholi.

Satish is said to be miffed because of his turf war with Women & Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar over Belagavi affairs. Inevitably, Shivakumar got dragged into this turf war due to his proximity with Laxmi.

The talk in Congress circles is that Satish is being groomed to emerge as an alternative against Shivakumar, who is eyeing the chief minister's chair when his time comes.

Apart from having a "like-minded" group of MLAs, Satish also wants to lead a delegation of Valmiki MLAs for a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, which could help his burgeoning stature.

Earlier this week, Satish himself did not deny his emergence as a power centre. Some feel that Satish, with the right manoeuvres, can fill the leadership vacuum in a post-Siddaramaiah scenario. That he is an ST with significant clout in Belagavi and Siddaramaiah's ideological fellow traveller could work in his favour.

Satish is also being seen as a candidate for one of the three deputy chief ministerial positions, an idea floated by Siddaramaiah's aide KN Rajanna, the cooperation minister.