The Karnataka Congress seems to be taking a leaf out of the RSS-BJP playbook for its revival. The state unit is gearing up for a transformation into a “cadre-based party” with focus on empowering the booth worker and strengthening booths. The party hopes to channel the power of social media by appointing a booth-level social media-in-charge and by using technology to gather traction among the youth.
Riddled with electoral debacles, factional feuds, mass defections, a waning support base and a demoralised cadre, the story of the Congress in Karnataka was no different from that in most of the rest of India. But the sudden change of guard on March 11, when Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed D.K. Shivakumar as the new state president, has brought hopes of a revival.
Shivakumar, the party’s troubleshooter, is expected to take charge during “Pratijna Dina”—the official swearing in ceremony that will be livestreamed across 7,800 locations, including the district and block Congress offices in the state. The date of the event has not been confirmed, yet. But, it is expected to mark a new start for the Congress as a tech-savvy party and highlight Shivakumar’s focus on the cadre.
Shivakumar has already visited senior leaders to emphasise that the party believes in collective leadership. The factional feuds between the “original” Congressmen and the “outsiders” (identified with former chief minister Siddaramaiah who joined the party in 2007), had triggered the collapse of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in July 2019.
After losing power, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee had fallen into total disarray. Following the December 2019 bypolls, when the Congress won only two out of 15 seats, Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned as state chief. But the party high command desisted from naming Rao’s successor fearing a backlash from the overlooked faction.
Now, as Shivakumar has the top post, the rival faction got three working presidents—Eshwar Khandre (Lingayat), Satish Jarkiholi (scheduled tribe; Valmiki) and Saleem Ahmed—reportedly to balance the demographic equation. But insiders felt that it was an effort to rein in Shivakumar. The new state chief is focused on uniting the party and bringing it to power. “Rest of the things can wait,” he said.
Senior Congress leader V.R. Sudarshan said that Shivakumar understood the need to listen to the party worker. “This is a competitive era and all parties are wooing new voters and the youth,” he said. “If the booths are empowered, pro-active and pro-people, it will appeal to the youth. It is the committed booth worker who needs to be valued to strengthen the party as he is also the voice of the people, the voters.”
The exodus of Congress leaders has meant losing experienced hands who wield immense political clout in their constituencies. Moreover, the exit of a leader also translates to losing his supporters—grassroots workers for the party. So, bringing back at least some of the turncoats is also part of the expansion plans. However, a committee has been set up to decide on who gets to join.
Any leader hoping to return to the party or new entrants who wish to join it will have to go through the screening committee, headed by MLC and former KPCC president Allam Veerabhadrappa. This panel will consult the block level and district level units to avoid infighting and groupism. “The party will not impose a leader on the cadre, but arrive at a consensus to induct a leader into its fold,” says Sudarshan.
The mantra under the new leadership is “perform or perish”. Insiders hinted that the revamping of the state and district units would see new faces, too. All 68 Congress MLAs in the 224-member assembly would be held responsible for strengthening the booth level committees in their constituencies. MLCs will handle two constituencies, and anyone aspiring for a party post should have booth-level experience.
Karnataka has seen the majority community lean right in recent years. Though the Congress managed to hold on to a lot of the Ahinda (Kannada term for minorities, dalits and backward classes) votes, the BJP split the votes of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and added it to a Hindu vote bank. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has the support of the Lingayats, who hold sway in over 100 northern constituencies.
In the Old Mysuru region, the politically influential Vokkaliga community continues to patronise the JD(S), though Shivakumar, too, belongs to the same community. But,
Shivakumar said that he never believed in communal or caste-based politics. “The broad-basing of the party will happen by grooming local leadership and by creating equal opportunities for all,” he said.
The Congress will plan its expansion without sacrificing its inclusive ideologies, said Sudarshan. Soon after the swearing-in, Shivakumar plans to tour the state to “listen” to the people suffering because of Covid-19. “The party will ensure that people get what has been promised to them by the Yediyurappa government,” he said.