There has been a growing chant from Vokkaliga leaders in the Karnataka Congress projecting Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who belongs to the community, as the next chief minister amid the party’s campaign for the Channapatna Assembly bypoll.
Congress MP Shivalinge Gowda on Monday said the Channapatna bypoll is crucial to DK Shivakumar’s chief ministerial ambitions.
“The thing that this election will take is the politics that will decide whether DK Shivakumar will be our next minister,” Gowda told a conference in Channapatna.
“He (Shivakumar) belongs to your constituency. There are all signs that he will become the chief minister. The result of this election is very important to show the leadership of DK Shivakumar,” he added.
The Channapatna seat, which was won by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy last year, fell open after the former Chief Minister was inducted into the Modi 3.0 Cabinet.
Earlier, DK Shivakumar appealed to the people of Channapatna to vote for Congress while considering him as their candidate. His brother, DK Suresh, expressed DK Shivakumar’s sentiments to woo voters, saying that the Congress is seeking votes on Shivakumar’s behalf.
This is not the first time that there have been cheap demands to make DK Shivakumar the chief minister. Last year, when the Congress won 135 seats in the Karnataka Assembly elections, the party was faced with the problem of appointing a chief minister as the battle between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar for the top post intensified.
In the end, Siddaramaiah was appointed as the chief minister while DK Shivakumar became his deputy because of the previous history of administrative rule. The Congress insisted that all is well in the party’s Karnataka wing and asserted that Siddaramaiah will complete the five-year term.
Meanwhile, HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is contesting on a JD(S) ticket from Channapatna while CP Yogeshwara, a former BJP leader, has been fielded by the Congress.
The bypoll for the seat will be held on November 13 and counting of votes will be done on November 23.
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