Despite the Congress improving its seat count in the state by eight, the Lok Sabha poll results were not up to its expectations. The results were particularly a setback for Shivakumar, whose younger brother DK Suresh lost from his home region — the Bengaluru Rural constituency — to a BJP-JD(S) coalition candidate, while the Congress itself failed to win more than one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in South Karnataka. Shivakumar has positioned himself as an alternative to former PM HD Deve Gowda and his son, ex-CM HD Kumaraswamy, as the leader of the dominant Vokkaliga community in the region.

However, with the Congress facing Assembly bypolls for three seats over the next few months, on account of their MLAs getting elected as MPs – the JD(U)’s Kumaraswamy from Mandya, the BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai from Haveri, and the Congress’s E Tukaram. from Ballari — Shivakumar sees a fresh opportunity to achieve his goal.

And this has resulted in the fresh bout of sparring for political ascendancy between the two Congress factions.

In a bid to show that he is undeterred in his attempts to take up the Vokkaliga gauntlet, Shivakumar is positioning himself as the Congress candidate from Channapatna Assembly seat, vacated incidentally by Kumaraswamy. His supporters have also been trying to spread that the party’s failure to win as many Lok Sabha seats as it hoped was on account of not only inability to rally Vokkaliga support, but also that of Siddaramaiah’s OBC Kuruba community, while the Congress traditional SC/ST Voters stayed away.

But that’s a bit of a stretch given that of all the communities in Karnataka, it is the SCs, STs and Muslims who appear to have helped the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress has three ST MPs, for example, including Satish Jarkiholi’s daughter Priyanka, who won from a general seat, besides two winners from ST-reserved seats.

Sensing Shivakumar’s efforts to jockey himself back into a bid for the CM’s post, the Siddaramaiah faction has in the past week been pushing the demand for three more Deputy CMs — besides Shivakumar — on the grounds of giving representation to different communities allied with the Congress.

The Siddaramaiah camp believes the original plan was to have more deputy CMs after the Congress formed the government in May 2023, but that Shivakumar had thwarted the same.

Among those who have raised the demand for more Deputy CMs are Jarkiholi and another ST leader, KN Rajanna, as well as Zameer Ahmed Khan, all of whom are the CM’s allies.

“A leader each from the Lingayat, SC/STs and minorities should be made deputy CM. The party will lose the people’s affection if just a few enjoy power. While the deputy CMs won’t get any special powers, the move will be a matter of pride (for the communities they represent),” Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna said last week. Rajanna also indicated that he was willing to take on the role of the state Congress chief.

“There is nothing wrong in seeking deputy CM berths. Every community has made such a request,” Khan, who is the Housing Minister, said soon after Rajanna’s statement.

Now religious leaders have got into the picture. At an event to mark the birth anniversary of Vokkaliga icon Kempegowda, a Vokkaliga seer, Chandrashekharanatha Swami, said Siddaramaiah should make way for Shivakumar as CM.

“Our DK Shivakumar has not become the CM. My request is that Siddaramaiah, who has experienced (the position), should give up power to our Shivakumar in the future, and bless him,” he said. “Only if Siddaramaiah makes up his mind can this happen.”

“We are in a democracy. What the high command decides will happen,” Siddaramaiah told the media, when quizzed about the seer’s suggestion. The Karnataka CM also said that he was an elected CM and not a nominated one — suggesting that Shivakumar did not have the requisite support among Congress MLAs to become the CM.

“It is the personal view of the seer. We have a party leadership that will decide on these things in a democratic way,” Jarkiholi, who holds the Public Works Department portfolio, said when asked about the matter. He also suggested that he himself would be in contention for the CM’s post in 2028.

Soon after, two seers from the Lingayat community — which is considered to be allied with the BJP — called for a Lingayat CM if Siddaramaiah was replaced. The Srisaila Jagadguru and the Balehonnur Rambhapuri said the Lingayats had supported the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, and the party should now respond in kind.

On Saturday, Shivakumar signaled the end of the current bout. “Anyone issuing public statements on changing the CM or Deputy CM will face disciplinary action from the AICC and the KPCC. Discipline is paramount for the party. We have worked hard to bring the party to power. No one must shoot off on this issue. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Siddaramaiah and I held a meeting in Delhi and decided that everyone has to work for the party. Ministers, MLAs and seers should not speak about party matters,” Shivakumar said.

He added: “The swamiji (seer) spoke out of affection, but his blessings are sufficient for me. Please do not propose or endorse me for the CM’s post… Let’s put an end to these things,” he said.

Although the noise from the Congress’s internal battle is likely to end after Shivakumar’s statement, it is expected to resume after the bypolls, or even remain dormant till the polls in neighboring Maharashtra, where Shivakumar is expected to be roped in to bolster the Congress efforts with his organizational capabilities.

Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, is still seen as being in a strong position despite recent protests against him by the BJP over alleged misappropriation of funds from the state ST Development Corporation, which cost ST Minister B Nagendra his post.