Siddaramaiah exits, but trouble may just begin for Shivakumar and Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Outgoing Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah appears to have left a ticking bomb as a parting reward for his successor DK Shivakumar and Rahul Gandhi earlier than deciding to step down from his place on Thursday.A day earlier than resigning as chief minister, Siddaramaiah on Wednesday accepted the Karnataka State Fee for Backward Courses’ long-delayed instructional survey report, popularly referred to as the caste census.Additionally Learn | Siddaramaiah quits, Shivakumar set for prime job: Will Congress’s ‘nataka’ in Karnataka finish or proceed like earlier than?The report on Karnataka’s first caste survey has been prepared since 2017, throughout Siddaramaiah’s earlier time period as chief minister. After returning to energy in 2023, Siddaramaiah ordered a recent caste survey, the report for which was ready in 2025.Siddaramaiah’s choice to just accept the report just earlier than stepping down is being seen as a big political message.Critics had alleged that successive governments prevented performing on the primary report for concern of backlash from Lingayats and Vokkaligas, the politically dominant communities within the state.With the revised report now formally submitted, the main target shifts to the following chief minister and the cupboard, which must resolve whether or not to implement its suggestions.Why it issuesThe Karnataka authorities’s 2025 caste survey is among the many most exhaustive workouts undertaken by the state to map the socio-economic standing of backward lessons, different castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.Additionally Learn | Siddaramaiah refuses Congress excessive command’s Rajya Sabha provide: Strain tactic or long-term technique?The report is, nonetheless, politically delicate as a result of it has the potential to disrupt Karnataka’s rigorously balanced caste equations. Stories counsel that backward communities may outnumber Lingayats and Vokkaligas — the 2 dominant communities which have historically formed the state’s politics for a long time.Siddaramaiah’s AHINDA politics — an alliance of minorities, backward lessons and Dalits — was constructed exactly to problem that dominance by uniting numerically sturdy but politically fragmented teams. The caste census report is now seen as empirical validation of the AHINDA bloc’s social power and might reignite that political battle on a a lot bigger scale.

This locations DK Shivakumar in a tough place. Shivakumar shouldn’t be solely the Congress’ most outstanding Vokkaliga chief in Karnataka but can be extensively credited with rebuilding the social gathering’s organisational construction within the state.If a authorities led by him strikes forward with tabling or implementing the report, it dangers backlash from influential Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities. However, delaying or shelving the report might alienate the AHINDA assist base that Siddaramaiah rigorously consolidated for the Congress through the years.In impact, Siddaramaiah has pushed DKS between a rock and a tough place.Rahul Gandhi’s credibility at stake?The Karnataka caste census additionally creates a political problem for Chief of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on the nationwide stage.Rahul Gandhi has made the caste census a central pillar of the Congress social gathering’s nationwide politics. He has argued that correct caste information is crucial for making certain social justice, honest illustration and focused welfare insurance policies for OBCs, Dalits and minorities.It was Rahul Gandhi who strongly pushed Congress-ruled states to conduct caste surveys with the intention to mission the social gathering as severe about implementing the social justice agenda it advocates politically.Karnataka and Telangana underneath Revanth Reddy emerged as the largest testing grounds for that technique.If the following authorities underneath Shivakumar avoids implementing or tabling the report, it might weaken Rahul Gandhi’s bigger nationwide narrative on social justice. It could additionally give the BJP a possibility to accuse the Congress of demanding a caste census nationally whereas hesitating to behave on it in states the place it faces political resistance.