On COVID-19, there’s nothing to learn from Karnataka: D K Shivakumar

KPCC president D K Shivakumar is convinced that the ‘Karnataka model’ of COVID-19 management is a myth. Shivakumar also tells Bharath Joshi about how he wants to revamp a faction-ridden party. Excerpts:

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have given the Congress a much-needed revival.

I was advised to shut office and stay home, but I’m a street fighter. If I hadn’t stood by people during a crisis, then when? Farmers were willing to sell vegetables for Rs 2-3. Congress party workers purchased farm produce worth Rs 100 crore and helped stabilise prices. And then, migrants. They are nation-builders. For them to travel, it’d have cost Rs 500 or Rs 1,000. Was that too much for this government? This government lacked basic common sense.

The Centre has asked other states to emulate Karnataka’s best practices in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s nothing to learn from Karnataka. What have they handled? What did they do in Ramanagara? And why didn’t they stop people coming from outside at the borders? Why were they sent to their homes in the first place? We won’t accept a certificate from the Centre. We know the reality here.

But you seem to have a soft corner for CM B S Yediyurappa and vice-versa.

I want to respect someone’s age, struggle and persistence. Ideologically, I’ve a lot of differences with him. I don’t have any soft corner. The way he came to power, it didn’t send a proper message to the state.

Why is making Congress a cadre-based unit so significant?

In every household, the decision makers are youngsters. If we don’t tap them when they’re young, on Congress ideology, we can’t do it later. Congress was built on the power of masses. People voted for Indira Gandhi and the Hand. That’s not the case now. From the bottom-up, we need to ready and strengthen an army of party workers who can be our voice.

But then, the same leaders keep getting opportunities, like we saw in the selection of RS and MLC candidates recently.

These are the Upper Houses, which are the Houses of Elders that need seniority and maturity. We sent Mallikarjun Kharge to Rajya Sabha because we feel that experience is needed. Even in the Legislative Council, B K Hariprasad and Naseer Ahmed have the experience. Also, this is war time, not peace time. There’s a mighty government at the national level and coalition government here that has a mix of ideologies of all three parties - JD(S), Congress and BJP.

With Siddaramaiah as the CLP leader, are there two power centres?

There’s only one power centre and that’s the Congress centre. I’m the party president and he’s legislature party leader. I fully respect his seniority, experience and knowledge. I don’t want to compete with Siddaramaiah. He’s my colleague. He’s also a leader.