“High command will decide”, the anodyne statement with which all forms of intra-party dissent in the Congress are met, has failed to stem the factional feud that threatens to destabilise the party in Karnataka. Making his power play on the heels of the party’s decimation in Bihar, feisty would-be chief minister DK Shivkumar clearly sees himself as negotiating from a position of strength.

Successive shock electoral defeats in Bihar, Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana—not to mention an embarrassing performance in Jammu & Kashmir—have eroded the high command’s moral authority to mediate between warring factions in the party. Allegations of rent-seeking behaviour by top party leaders in Bihar haven’t helped matters.

The absence of a de-centralised dispute-resolution system in the Congress has ensured that the high command is no longer an effective arbitrator. Shivkumar has publicly given credence to reports of a deal for rotational chief ministership, whereby current incumbent Siddaramaiah was to yield office to him after two and a half years. One report states the Karnataka CM had explicitly promised to hand over the post a week before the deadline of November 20, 2025.

Factions are inevitable in a big tent party, which accommodates differing opinions, interest groups and aspirations. Time was when troubleshooters like Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Pranab Mukherjee........

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