The Congress party in Karnataka has been struggling to control one of its own legislators – Zameer Ahmed Khan, who has now been issued a warning by the leadership over his publicly stated opinion on the party’s Chief Minister face. A four-time MLA from Chamarajpet and a businessman who is a third-generation transport baron, Zameer was formerly a member of the JD(S), and was known to be close to former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. He has also served as a Cabinet Minister while in JD(S). In March 2018, he jumped to the Congress along with six other MLAs. Since then, he is seen as a close aide of former CM Siddaramaiah.
What did Zameer Ahmed say?
Speaking to the media last week, Zameer had said that nobody can become the state’s Chief Minister with the support of just one community, adding that he too would want to become the CM one day and that the Muslim population in Karnataka was larger than that of Vokkaligas. Just because Vokkaligas are asserting themselves everywhere, it does not mean that someone from the community can be declared as a CM face of the party, he said.
What was he referring to?
Just a few days before Zameer made these comments, state Congress president DK Shivakumar had appealed to voters from the Vokkaliga community, to which he belongs, to consolidate and lend their support to him. He said it was after 20 years that the Congress was appointing a Vokkaliga as the party president, and that he needed the community’s support if he was to become the CM. After SM Krishna, Shivakumar is the first Vokkaliga to be appointed as KPCC president.
How has the Congress reacted?
Zameer’s comments, regarding both caste equations as well as the CM face of the party, have not been received well by the state and national leadership of the Congress, with All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala issuing a notice to Zameer asking him to not cross the “Lakshman Rekha of the party’s discipline and ideology”.
Warning Zameer against making unwanted remarks in public, Surjewala said, “Unwarranted and uncharitable statements help no one, except to create avoidable controversies and bitterness. Regrettably, your inessential public statements have ended up creating unnecessary fault lines.”
Besides Shivakumar and other Vokkaliga leaders across party lines who have criticised Zameer’s comments, Siddaramaiah too has distanced himself from the statement.
Why is the Congress so worried?
For the Congress, Zameer’s remarks are problematic on two fronts. One, it exposes the caste fault lines within the party and could prove to be electorally costly in the Vokkaliga heartland of Old Mysore region, where traditionally Congress and JD(S) compete with each other. Secondly, it further fuels the unwanted controversy of who the Congress’ CM face should be, dividing the party even more.