Congress snubs Siddaramaiah over ahinda

In Karnataka,Congress  is evidently looking at the next assembly elections to score  over BJP by bringing all factions together under the combined  leadership. KPCC President DK Shivakumar and opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah wants to strengthen their  own bases. DK Shivakumar has commendable support  of vokkaliga community. Likewise Siddaramaiah has his  ahinda group consisting of muslims, backward classes and Dalits which he built-up  since  he was  in JDS days. Moreover  he was  earlier  branded  as kuruba supremo. Now kurubas seeking ST status under BJP  leader KS Eshwarappa. As Siddaramaiah didn't  openly support  kuruba rally,now he is becoming a spent force  in his own community. 

In this  tussle of  supremacy, Siddaramaiah is eager  to revive his ahinda  activities. So they wanted to organize ahinda rallies throughout the state. He wanted to play ahinda card like he did in 2014- 15 before thrown  out from  JDS. He has  decided to  launch this movement  from early next month. Now Siddaramaiah's strategy  seems  to broader than that  of kuruba leader, he is focusing on becoming entire mass leader of all backward   classes and other downtrodden  communities to score over DK Shivakumar. 

Unfortunately, Congress  high command seems to have snubbed Siddaramaiah not to hastily initiate such groupism which will  hinder  collective responsibility. Congress has  seen  this activity as an individual showoff. So  high command has discouraged the ambitions of  Siddaramaiah. It wants  him to be part of party's collective  leadership to prepare for the 2023 assembly elections. It has  not permitted him to visit  Delhi to plead his case. This has been decided on the feedback from local party functionaries more from  vokkaliga camp lead by Shivakumar. 

Hence, it is not a winning  situation for former CM as vokkaligas has teamed up against him. Siddaramaiah  always refused to  disassociate  with ahinda activities even  when he was in JDS.  There  were frequent clashes between  him and HD Devegowda over  such activities. A similar situation might arise  if he defies the congress  highcommand. But his political strategy lies in his planning of such ahinda rallies in 100 assembly segments  where congress  has lost in 2019 elections. 

To overcome  this issue, Siddaramaiah  camp is planning an alternative strategy. Instead  of calling them  ahinda  rallies, they want  to name them with  different caste at  different  places. It all depends  on which  community is majority in a particular  place. If in Bagalkot or Belagavi they may name it as nekara rally. Likewise  ganiga, kumbara, madivala, kuruba, dalit rallies can be organized. But one has to see whether these communities will  accept his leadership  or not. Whatever  may be the  outcome, Siddaramaiah  group is well  bent upon  to move forward with ahinda agenda. To begin with they  are planning four  mega kuruba rallies  at divisional headquarters. 

In a latest development, Siddaramaiah  camp met at the residence of former leader Dr HC Mahadevappa and decided to  hold hinda rallies instead of  ahinda rallies. Cleverly he says that he wants to bring  back those backward communities into congress  fold. So he left minority tag by removing 'a' from ahinda and making it simple hinda movement. He clarified that his struggle for the upliftment of all downtrodden communities will continue. Later in Hubballi he stated that congress  is always struggling to the  welfare  of exploited class, there is no need for any such rallies. He also confirmed that he will not politicize  kuruba ST reservation demand by keeping himself aloof  from controversies. This is a clear indication that he is  drifting away from kuruba leadership. To overcome this defeat Siddaramaiah wanted to pulls out ahinda card, but in all  likelihood he may not be allowed to encash it.