Hectic lobbying for the post of Karnataka’s next chief minister is on ahead of the crucial Congress legislature party meeting to be held at 12.30 pm Friday in Bangalore.
Both Siddaramaiah and Mallikarjuna Kharge, the frontrunners, met with former Union minister S M Krishna separately and sought his blessings.
Siddaramaiah in fact has met with almost all senior leaders in the Congress over the past two days and sought their blessings. Kharge too has been doing the same as both know it would boil down to the CLP meeting and the events there which will be a final deciding factor.
The CLP meeting may not give us a clear picture as to who would be the chief minister. A set of observers will be present at the CLP meeting and they would observe the kind of support each of these leaders enjoy. This would then be reported to the party high command in Delhi which is most likely to make an announcement from there.
The CLP meeting will have a discussion before which both the contenders to the post will put forth their views. If there are other contenders they too would be given an opportunity to speak.
The observers would try and finalise their report based on the manner in which the MLAs are tilting towards their leader.
Although it never happens in the Congress, this time there is a good chance of the observers seeking a vote from the MLAs to see who is a more favoured leader.
The results of these elections would be shared with the high command.
However, it is not as though the high command would decide only on the basis of the results of the CLP meeting. They would see who is more beneficial to the party and also the person who has a bigger control over the legislators.
The high command could either accept the report of the observers or just go ahead and appoint whoever they want.
In normal circumstances, the high command usually takes a call by itself and the CLP meetings prove to be eyewash. However, in this case it is not as simple as they may think and a lot of factors would weigh on their minds before taking a decision.
Siddaramaiah is capable of revolting in case he is not considered to the post. This is the last thing the Congress would want as they do not want to earn the wrath of the people who were fed up with the BJP infighting.
This would have an impact on their 2014 prospects from Karnataka as well.
Image: Reuters
