Why not a Dalit as the Chief Minister is the question posed by Dalit leaders to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who is spearheading backward classes movement by many Dalit organisations and political leaders in the State. The entire issue may look as an outcome of a squabble between CM Siddaramaiah and State Congress president and a prominent Dalit leader G Parameshwara who has been sidelined by Siddaramaiah, the issue has now been echoing in the corridors of power to include Parameshwara into the Cabinet.
Even though Congress general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Digvijay Singh has ruled out change of CM, the weakened and decimated Congress high command is not in a position to take control of the situation and douse the fire. In the changing political scenario for the first time in Karnataka, Dalits inside the Congress are agitated and wants a key role to play in decisive politics.
There was a lot of pressure and speculations about sending senior Congress leader and a Dalit politician Mallikharjun M Kharge back to State to take over as the Dalit Chief Minister of the State. But, this is only a speculation and many Dalit voices along with some dominant communities like Vokkaligas (Gowdas) and lingayats in the Congress are agitated about continuing Siddaramaiah, considered an outsider in the Congress .
But CM Siddaramaiah, who has become indispensible to the Congress high command for various reasons and compulsions is playing his cards right to survive building his own coterie. At the height of the cry to bring a Dalit CM, Siddaramaiah a backward class leader who belongs to powerful Kuruba community consolidated himself in the Congress proving to be the undisputed leader of the community. He has played appeasement and backward classes politics to the hilt to prove his political one-upmanship and consolidate his position.
The CM has declared himself a Dalit in the wake of some Dalit groups demanding that the ruling Congress party install a CM from the community for the remainder of its five-year term. "I am also a Dalit,'' Siddaramaiah said in Mysore last week. The statement came soon after some Dalit groups announced a plan to stage a rally in demand of installation of a Dalit CM. "The poor and oppressed from all communities are also Dalits and I cannot be separated from them," he said, adding that to uplift the State's SC/ST community, he has allocated funds from the State Budget proportional to their population (24.1 per cent).
Dalit groups Samata Sainik Dal, Madiga Dandora and Dalit Sangarsha Samithi recently met and decided to rally in order to push forward their cause
A very senior Dalit leader in the party told The Pioneer that there was a demand to bring a Dalit as the Chief Minister. But, he said this demand was to atleast make Parameshwara, a Dalit leader, as the Deputy Chief Minister. He said, "First time there is a demand to make a Dalit as the CM. Kharge, a senior leader is doing well at the Center and the Congress high command has no say in the State party affairs as they themselves are in a quandary over Rahul Gandhi and other issues. Siddaramaiah is playing his politics well and keeping all power centers away from him. Parameshwar is not in the ring."
Posters demanding that a Dalit CM have cropped up all over Mysore under the banner of the Janandolana Kriya Samiti. The demand for a Dalit CM which cropped up around two months ago is being seen as invisibly orchestrated by State Congress chief G Parameshwara, who has been vocal about his ambitions. Parameshwara made it clear that he wants to become a Deputy CM and has all the qualifications.
During the regime of Veerappa Moily as the CM, he appointed SM Krishna as the DCM to appease the Vokkaliga community. Siddaramaiah too had been appointed to the post of DCM in 1996 during the JH Patel Government and in also in 2004 during the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) Government headed by N Dharam Singh. There is discontent brewing in the State Congress. Not only Dalits, but other dominant communities are also waiting for a chance to pounce on Siddaramaiah who has proved powerful and opt for the decimated Congress for now.