'Three Dy CMs' proposal of Karnataka Min puts Cong govt in fix

Bengaluru: State Minister for Cooperation K.N. Rajanna's proposal to appoint three more Dy CMs in the government has put the ruling Karnataka Congress in a fix ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajanna, a prominent leader from backward classes, batted for three more DyCMs on Friday along with DyCM D.K. Shivakumar.

He maintained that he would make a submission in this regard with the high command.

According to party sources, the move has come from the CM Siddaramaiah camp against DyCM and state Congress President Shivakumar in response to a recent verbal attack on the chief minister by MLC B.K. Hariprasad, who belongs to Shivakumar camp.

Rajanna claimed that Karnataka has Siddaramaiah as CM who belongs to backward classes and DyCM Shivakumar who hails from developed class.

However, along with this, opportunity should be given to SC-ST, minority and Lingayat communities as these communities have voted for Congress in the last Assembly elections.

He also maintained that the move would benefit the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. DyCM Shivakumar, upset about the statements, refused to make any comments.

The sources explained that Shivakumar camp is upbeat about winning more than 20 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and stake claim for the CM’s post for the 2.6 years. However, CM Siddaramaiah is in no mood to give away the post and wants to keep him away.

The move is to make DyCM Shivakumar insecure about the present post and also establish his supremacy. If there are four DyCMs, naturally, Shivakumar, who is presently having an equivalent position to the CM, will suffer a setback.