Two seers representing the influential Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities in Karnataka have demanded that Congress leaders from their respective sects be made the next chief minister.

Kumara Chandrashekaranatha Swami, the head of Vishwa Vokkaligara Mahasamsthana Mutt, first raised the cause of deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar as the next chief minister.

His appeal was heard in the right places because he made it at a public meeting while sharing the dais with chief minister Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and other Vokkaliga seers at an event commemorating the 515th birth anniversary of Bengaluru founder Kempe Gowda.

Chandrashekaranatha Swami contended that Siddaramaiah, who had served as the chief minister for over a year during his second stint, should pave the way for Shivakumar, who is a Vokkaliga.

Not to be left behind, prominent Lingayat seer Srisaila Jagadguru Channa Siddharama Panditharadhya Swamy on Friday urged the Congress to consider leaders from the community for the chief minister’s post.

Unlike the Vokkaliga seer who pitched for Shivakumar alone, the Lingayat pontiff recommended state ministers M.B. Patil, Eshwar Khandre and S.S. Mallikarjun for the job. He reminded the Congress that Lingayat voters had supported the party in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

The entry of the two seers and the shrill pitch for leadership comes at a time a section of the Congress wants three deputy chief ministers representing the major communities.

Housing and minority affairs minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, public works minister Satish Jarkiholi and cooperation minister K.N. Rajanna are among those who have been openly backing the demand for three deputies, allegedly to undercut Shivakumar’s importance.

For long the principal troubleshooter, Shivakumar received a huge setback when his brother D.K. Suresh lost from the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency, their home turf. The defeat against the BJP’s C.N. Manjunath, a cardiologist and son-in-law of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, came at a time many expected Shivakumar to ratchet his demand for the top job.

After having led the party to a thumping victory in the 2023 state polls, Shivakumar had stood his ground to be made the chief minister. It took days of negotiations and meetings with the top leadership to make him yield to Siddaramaiah as part of a power-sharing deal.

Congress leaders have swung into the party’s defence and blamed the BJP for instigating the seers to raise the pitch on the leadership issue to create disarray in the
ruling party.

Agriculture minister N. Chaluvaraswamy accused the BJP of inciting the seers to cover up its failure in retaining 27 (of the 28) seats in Karnataka that the party had in the last Lok Sabha. The BJP had won 25 on its own while an Independent it backed had won her seat. The Janata Dal Secular, which managed to win a lone seat, had joined the NDA last year.

“The BJP is desperate since it could win only 17 seats this time,” said the minister.

State BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra had earlier accused Siddaramaiah of getting his loyalists to undermine Shivakumar’s influence by bringing in three deputies.