Many capable leaders in Congress to became Karnataka chief minister: M B Patil

Patil clarified that there was nothing wrong with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar expressing their aspirations for CM seat

Stoking a debate, former minister M B Patil on Thursday said Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar are not the only contenders for the chief minister’s post if the party is voted to power in the May 10 Assembly election.

“There are many capable contenders for the CM’s post including me,” Patil, the Karnataka Congress’ campaign committee chief, said. He even named former ministers Dinesh Gundu Rao (Brahmin) and Krishna Byre Gowda (Vokkaliga) as potential CM candidates.

“Congress’ national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Siddaramaiah are tall leaders of our party in the state. Myself, Shivakumar, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Krishna Byre Gowda are next line leaders of the state,” Patil said.

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Patil’s statement comes amid stoic silence maintained by Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar -- the seemingly obvious aspirants -- on who the CM will be if Congress wins Karnataka.

“Anybody can express the desire to become CM. But the mere expression of one’s desire may not translate into reality. Ultimately, one has to get support from MLAs,” Patil stressed. “MLAs will select the leader of the legislature party,” he said.

“Following this, the high command will take a final call. This is the practice in Congress.” Patil clarified that there was nothing wrong with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar expressing their CM ambitions.

“But the party has not projected anybody. The top leaders have made it clear that elections will be faced under a collective leadership,” he said.

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The chief ministerial debate among Congressmen has been a contentious one with Siddaramaiah aspiring for a second term while Shivakumar also sees a chance for himself. At one point, the high command had to step in and ask leaders to stop discussing chief ministerial names. Patil is one of the Congress’ prominent Lingayat faces.

This time, the Congress expects a swing in the votes of the Lingayat community that is seen as the BJP’s traditional vote base. Patil previously had a feud with Shivakumar over the ‘separate Lingayat religion’ issue. Shivakumar had tendered a public apology over the Congress government recommending religious minority tag to the Lingayats, irking Patil.

Patil claimed that Lingayats would “fully back” Congress. He said the BJP government had “cheated” the community by hiking their reservation by just two percentage points. The “abrupt” removal of BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa as CM has “hurt the entire community”, Patil said.

“During election campaign, Congress will expose the BJP’s double standards in luring Lingayats,” he added. The Congress will give “maximum number of seats” to Lingayat candidates, Patil said.

“Of the 166 candidates announced so far, a total of 43 tickets have been given to Lingayat leaders. Another 10 are expected,” he said.