A new Karnataka CM, a tired Congress script

The 2023 assembly election result in Karnataka marked a rare triumph for Congress since the waning of its electoral fortunes after 2014. The AHINDA social coalition resurrected by Siddaramaiah, a campaign focused on corruption and governance issues and a party organisation that came together, credit for which was given to D K Shivakumar — a host of factors came together to give Congress 135 seats in the 224-seat House. Unfortunately, almost from the very beginning of outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s term, the Karnataka story has been dominated by the factional fight within the ruling party. With his resignation and the likely elevation of his colleague and rival Shivakumar in his place, Congress’s challenges in Karnataka are set to grow.

Siddaramaiah is a mass leader with wide appeal among OBCs, minorities and Dalits. He has taken political ownership of Congress’s “five guarantees” — cash transfer and welfare schemes aimed at women and youth, which have, on the one hand, become a safety net but on the other, shrunk the room for capital expenditure by the government. The Social and Educational Survey threatens to become a fault line, by shining the light on the population numbers and economic indices of dominant groups like Vokkaligas and Lingayats vis-à-vis others. Rather than looking for ways to navigate this changing landscape, Congress has been busy managing rival factions. On the governance front, Bengaluru, the hub of innovation and start-ups, continues to face crumbling infrastructure, even as other urban centres cry out for attention and investment.

Sub-groups inside large parties can enrich governance through multiple perspectives. The Karnataka story, though, speaks of a broader political culture that remains myopic, even as Congress shrinks in the face of the BJP’s challenge. The new CM can use the next two years to change this script. Or, it can be another chapter in a story of an unchecked decline.