No success in succession

Is it always a good idea to announce your retirement in advance? Maybe in chalking out corporate succession plans. But in politics maybe not.

- ADITI PHADNIS

It is possible that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's gambit to snag the chief ministership of Karnataka in 2023 — "this is the last election I will be fighting" — paid off at the time. But looking at the state of the government in Karnataka today, despite winning 135 seats in the 224-member Assembly (137 now after byelection victories), which is a kind of a landmark for the ruling Congress after 1989, you wouldn't think so.

It is hard to recall an instance in India's political history when a deputy chief minister has publicly told his supporters that he has no option but to let the chief minister continue, as D K Shivakumar did earlier this week. Not governance initiatives, not infrastructure creation but succession to Mr Siddaramaiah seems to be the primary concern of the government and party.

There are so many elements in the mix, including cross-party linkages. The relationship between former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and Mr Siddaramaiah is a complex, many-layered one. Publicly, the two fight, which is to be expected. But at Mr Yediyurappa's 78th birthday celebrations, recalling his role in bringing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in the state, Mr Siddaramaiah said: "Very few leaders know the pulse of the state and Yediyurappa is one among them." There have been many instances when the two have helped each other out against rivals in their own parties.