Siddaramaiah Vs TK Sivakumar | Is choosing CMs more difficult for Congress than electoral wins?

Chennai: The Congress party has won 135 seats in the recently concluded Karnataka state assembly elections. With this, the Congress party is going to form the government in Karnataka with full majority. However, a contest is going on between former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka State Congress Party President DK Sivakumar as to who will be the next Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Both ‘you? Am I?’ Standing in competition. Due to this, the All India Congress Party leadership has not announced who will be the next Chief Minister of the state. Both Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar are camping in the capital Delhi. Congress party chief executives are actively discussing who will be the next chief minister.

This is not the first time that this kind of factional conflict has arisen in the Congress party. The Congress party, which has won the assembly elections in various states before, has been confused about who will be the chief minister. Sometimes the decision of the Congress party leadership is detrimental to the party itself. Let’s see about it.

• The Congress leadership declared former MP Narayanasamy, who did not contest the elections after the 2016 Puducherry Assembly elections, as the Chief Minister. Because of that, the government fell before the 2021 elections. Namachivayam, who was an important member of the cabinet, joined the BJP. In the 2021 elections, the NR Congress and BJP coalition government was formed.
• Ashok Khelat and Sachin Pilot have been at loggerheads since the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly election results. After the election, the Congress leadership announced Ashok Khelat as the Chief Minister. Assembly elections are going to be held in Rajasthan next December.
• After the last 2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly elections, the Congress party announced Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister. However, Congress removed him from the post of Chief Minister in September 2021 and appointed Saranjit Singh Sunny. Punjab State Congress Party President Navjot Singh Sidhu was behind this.
• In the same 2018 Madhya Pradesh state assembly election, the Congress party formed the government after about 15 years after winning 114 seats. Kamal Nath took charge as Chief Minister. This is the decision of the Congress party. However, 22 Congress MLAs resigned in 2020. All of them joined the BJP led by Jyotir Aditya Scindia. So there was a regime change. BJP formed the government in that state. BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chauhan is currently the Chief Minister.
• Earlier, Himanta Biswa Sharma (Chief Minister of Assam) and Jagan Mohan Reddy (Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) left the Congress party and are currently the Chief Minister.
• In this way, the bitter experience of the Congress party’s chief ministerial election decision has happened. Considering all that, the Congress leadership is expected to take a clear decision this time. Surely it can be in a way that does not cause any disturbance to the party and the government. It is believed that the Congress party leadership will take this decision keeping in mind the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the state elections to be held before that.