top of page

By:

Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Fractured Crown

Between Siddaramaiah’s grip on power and Shivakumar’s restless ambition, the Karnataka Congress is trapped in a succession spiral. Karnataka Karnataka today has two chief ministers - one by office, the other by expectation. The power tussle between Siddaramaiah and his deputy, D.K. Shivakumar, has slipped so completely into the open that the Congress’s ritual denials sound like political farce. A whispered ‘understanding’ after the 2023 victory that each would get the CM’s post after...

Fractured Crown

Between Siddaramaiah’s grip on power and Shivakumar’s restless ambition, the Karnataka Congress is trapped in a succession spiral. Karnataka Karnataka today has two chief ministers - one by office, the other by expectation. The power tussle between Siddaramaiah and his deputy, D.K. Shivakumar, has slipped so completely into the open that the Congress’s ritual denials sound like political farce. A whispered ‘understanding’ after the 2023 victory that each would get the CM’s post after two-and-a-half years has hardened into a public confrontation between a chief minister determined to finish five years and a deputy increasingly unwilling to wait. The recent breakfast meeting between the two men at Siddaramaiah’s residence was presented as a truce where the ‘high command’ was invoked as the final arbiter. “There are no differences between us,” Siddaramaiah insisted, twice for emphasis. Few were convinced and soon, Shivakumar was again hinting darkly at change. For weeks, Shivakumar’s loyalists have been holding meetings, mobilising legislators and making pilgrimages to Delhi to get the Congress high command to honour its promise. They insist that the Congress leadership agreed to a rotational chief ministership in 2023 and that November 2025 was always meant to mark Shivakumar’s ascent. The high command, for its part, has perfected the art of strategic vagueness by neither confirming nor denying the pact. This suggests that the Congress does not merely hesitate to act against Siddaramaiah, but increasingly lacks the capacity to do so. From the outset of his second innings, Siddaramaiah has given no signal of easing aside. As he approaches January 2026, poised to overtake D. Devaraj Urs as Karnataka’s longest-serving chief minister, the symbolism is unmistakable. The mantle of social justice politics that Urs once embodied now firmly sits on Siddaramaiah’s shoulders. And it is this social coalition that shields him. His fortress is AHINDA - minorities, backward classes and Dalits. Leaked figures from the unreleased caste census suggest that these groups together approach or exceed two-thirds of the state’s population. Lingayats and Vokkaligas, once electorally dominant, are rendered numerical minorities in this arithmetic. Siddaramaiah governs not merely as a Congress leader, but as the putative custodian of Karnataka’s demographic majority. That claim is reinforced through policy. Minority scholarships have been revived, contractor quotas restored, residential schools expanded. More than Rs. 42,000 crore has been earmarked for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Kurubas, his own community, have been pitched for Scheduled Tribe status, with careful assurances that their elevation will not disadvantage others. DK Shivakumar brings organisational muscle, financial clout and control over the Vokkaliga heartland. In electoral campaigns, these are formidable assets. But in a confrontation with a leader who embodies a 60–70 percent social coalition, they are blunt instruments. The Congress high command understands this equation, even if it publicly pretends otherwise. It also remembers, uneasily, what Siddaramaiah did the last time his authority was constrained. In 2020, when the Congress–JD(S) coalition collapsed after 16 MLAs defected to Mumbai,13 of them hailed from Siddaramaiah’s camp. At the time, he held the post of coordination committee chairman. Instead, he emerged as the principal beneficiary of collapse, returning as Leader of the Opposition with a tighter grip on the party. If the Congress high command could not punish him then, it is doubtful it can coerce him now. Shivakumar’s predicament is thus more tragic than tactical. He is not battling a rival alone, but an entire political structure built to outlast him. The promised coronation looks increasingly like a mirage drifting just ahead of a man condemned to keep walking. For the Congress, the cost of this paralysis is already visible. A government elected on guarantees and governance is consumed by succession. The party’s authority is dissolving while its factions harden. The Congress returned to power in Karnataka after years in the wilderness, only to re-enact the same leadership dysfunction that has crippled it elsewhere. Regardless of whether Siddaramaiah survives this storm, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Congress cannot survive the slow corrosion of its command in one of the few states it holds today.

Traffic Woes Voters’ Agenda


ree

Which is the fourth most congested city in the world with 65 percent congestion, has seen the traffic situation worsening off late. And the citizens are bearing the brunt of this in their daily commute. Traffic congestion, parking issues and constant honking have become normal for Mumbaikars. Regional transport offices in Mumbai are handling more and more vehicle registration compared to earlier years. As a result, more vehicles on the roads and obviously the bottlenecks at various places of Mumbai. Traffic police and other government authorities have miserably failed to tackle the traffic menace.


Many people in the city are fully dependent on public transport. Buses and trains are often overcrowded. Traffic congestion is a significant problem in Mumbai, and peak traffic times can last several hours. Air pollution is very high due to the high number of old, inefficient cars and there is also little regulation of emissions from factories. Mumbai’s bustling roads face a silent menace—speed breakers that are either poorly marked or entirely unmarked, turning crucial safety measures into accident hotspots.


Mumbai was India’s most and the world’s fifth-most congested city in 2021, according to the traffic Index based on a study of 404 cities across 58 countries. It was the second most congested city globally after Moscow a year earlier. Unfinished development projects are more in Maharashtra and due to various land disputes, political impasses, and red tape they have been delayed more. So, from a lack of funds and incomplete projects to old structures and various habits Mumbai has become an unmanageable city. The pending constructions create bottlenecks and traffic pile-ups. The irony is construction of new Metro lines, underway to ease out traffic woos itself causing traffic. Construction on the Western Express Highway and Linking Road has resulted in major traffic congestion points as travelling time in those corridors has more than doubled.


After an extensive survey, Mumbai traffic police have identified five locations across the city which are worst-affected by traffic congestion. Referring to these locations as ‘pain points’, the traffic police have sent solutions to the departments concerned to resolve the traffic woes of the commuters. Many survey reports are gathering dust in the government offices. Many times it is seen that impractical decisions are taken putting the burden on the state’s coffer. Building bigger roads doesn’t fix Mumbai’s traffic congestion. Many traffic experts have brought this reality to the notice of the government. Still more and more roads and bridges have been planned for Mumbai.


Now the MMRDA is coming with a new proposal, the 58,000-crore proposal includes the development of roads, bridges, and tunnels encircling Mumbai from all directions, establishing connectivity to suburban regions as well as Gujarat, Konkan Maharashtra, and western Maharashtra.

Comments

bottom of page