Son says Sidda’s career at fag end, projects Jarkiholi as heir

The Karnataka Congress factionalism saga took a fresh twist on Wednesday when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra announced publicly that his father was in the final phase of his political career and should mentor someone else.

He (Siddaramaiah) is at the fag end of his political career. At such a juncture, we need a leader who can guide and lead those with progressive, ideological thinking,” Yathindra said at a gathering in Belagavi.

Yathindra went on to project minister Satish Jarkiholi as the heir apparent to Siddaramaiah, in remarks that have stirred the Congress where Deputy CM DK Shivakumar is the lead contender for Siddaramaiah’s replacement.

Yathindra said he hoped Jarkiholi would take up the responsibility and serve as a role model for all politicians and young leaders who believe in the Congress ideology, and lead them.

“It is rare to find leaders who are truly committed to principles, but Jarkiholi has been doing his job with sincerity. He should continue to do so,” Yathindra said, in remarks widely seen as the Chief Minister’s camp’s attempt to project a challenger to Shivakumar in the Congress’ internal power tussle.

Jarkiholi, a senior Scheduled Caste leader, is a firm Siddaramaiah loyalist.

WHO IS SATISH JARKIHOLI

Karnataka Minister for Public Works Department, represents Yemkanmardi ST reserved constituency in the Assembly

Jarkiholi (63) is a Siddaramaiah loyalist and a known Shivakumar baiter. An SC leader himself, he is a prominent member of the Ahinda group — comprising minorities, backward classes and SCs — that CM Siddaramaiah has long cultivated as his core political constituency.

He is the brother of Ramesh Jarkiholi, a former Congress man who had defected to the BJP with many MLAs when the BJP won Karnataka in 2018. Ramesh is a BJP MLA.

The development, some party insiders say, could also be the CM loyalists’ ploy to create confusion in the leadership race and delay matters further.

Shivakumar, who is also Karnataka state Congress president, has been waiting in the wings to replace Siddaramaiah with his supporters in the past, routinely flagging the rotational CM-ship agreement when the party won the last Assembly elections.

The Congress high command has, however, found it hard to unsettle the CM, an OBC, at a time when Rahul Gandhi has been leading the demand for a caste census.

The talk about a change of guard in the Karnataka Government has been underway for some time with the state government completing half its term in November.

The Congress has long grappled with leadership tussles across its state units. Earlier, a prolonged power struggle between former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath and then CM hopeful Jyotiraditya Scindia led to the latter's exit from the party and his subsequent switch to the BJP, where he went on to become a Union Minister.

Tensions between then CM Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan triggered a revolt by Pilot and supporters in July 2020. Pilot, after being cloistered with loyalists at a Manesar resort, had called off the rebellion and returned to the party.