Congress government in Karnataka turns two en route 2028

The Siddaramaiah government, arguably the strongest dispensation the Congress has, is turning two on May 20 in what has been a roller-coaster ride packed with administrative challenges and political puzzles.

But many expect an unravelling in midterm, which could set the tone for the 2028 Assembly elections. 

The big question in political circles is: when will Siddaramaiah’s deputy D K Shivakumar stake his claim on CM’s chair? “After October,” a senior Congress leader says. 

Before sliding down the political rabbit hole, one must first give full marks to the Congress government for implementing the five flagship ‘guarantee’ schemes, having spent Rs 80,000 crore on them so far. Schemes like Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2,000 per month) and Shakti (free bus rides) have contributed to bettering women’s lives, no doubt. 

“Over the next three years, we will continue the ‘guarantees’ as well as other development programmes. In the elections to zilla, taluk panchayats and the Bengaluru civic body, we’ll do well thanks to our track record,” government chief whip in the Council Saleem Ahmed says. 

However, the ruling Congress has not been effective enough in countering claims and addressing concerns that the ‘guarantees’ have reduced development spending. In fact, a slew of price hikes - power, water, milk, bus fares, tax rise on alcohol and so on - has contributed to the narrative that the ‘guarantees’ are fiscally bleeding the state. 

“Yes, there have been hikes. Shouldn’t the state improve?” Ahmed asks. “We hiked price of milk by Rs 4, which goes directly to farmers. The cost of petrol was Rs 50-55 a litre when Manmohan Singh was PM. Now, it has crossed Rs 100. What about that” he asks. 

When it comes to fighting corruption, the Congress has underperformed, if not flunked.

It was on the anti-corruption plank that Congress won the 2023 polls, targeting the previous BJP government with the ‘40% commission’ allegation. The Karnataka State Contractors Association has said that the rate of commission (kickbacks) under this government has exceeded 40%. The joke is on... well, never mind. 

On the same topic, the ruling Congress has demonstrated intent by ordering a series of investigations against ‘scams’ of the previous BJP government - Bitcoin scam, ‘40% commission’ allegation and irregularities during Covid-19. But none has reached its logical end. 

Embezzlement of taxpayers’ money at the Maharshi Valmiki ST development corporation punched Congress, resulting in Bellary MLA B Nagendra’s resignation as  minister.

Then, the site allotment scam in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) stained Siddaramaiah’s ‘Mr Clean’ image. The MUDA scam was a political allegation, the CM maintained. 

Back to politics then. Much of this government’s time went into politicking over the rumoured power-sharing agreement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. The one-upmanship was there for all to see. Leaders belonging to both camps - Siddaramaiah’s and Shivakumar’s - washed dirty linen in public, embarrassing the party. This forced Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge - he rarely speaks in public on internal party matters - to admonish both camps. 

Several Congress lawmakers are said to have already written off the 2028 polls. “Our next chance is 2033,” they say. But some Congress leaders are doggedly working towards 2028. One of them is Shivakumar.

“In all likelihood, the Congress high command will intervene, Siddaramaiah might - in all decency - agree to step down and Shivakumar would become the chief minister,” is political analyst Harish Ramaswamy’s scenario when the Congress government reaches its midterm. “If this won’t happen, then Shivakumar will definitely prevail upon the party”.