In an unexpected move, veteran Karnataka politician B R Patil has resigned as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s political advisor, highlighting the churning in the state Congress and internal power dynamics.
Patil’s retirement, as a staunch Siddaramaiah loyalist, comes at a time when a power struggle is building in the Congress, as seen by dinner meetings held by pro-Siddaramaiah figures last month. The debate centers on a rumored power-sharing agreement — the rotational chief ministership formula — which Siddaramaiah has frequently rejected.
However, sources in the Karnataka Congress stated Patil’s departure was unrelated to the Siddaramaiah-D K Shivakumar feud. The four-time MLA from Aland in Kalaburagi district was alleged to be angered by the CM’s lack of priority for him. Patil comes from the Kalaburagi region, where Shivakumar wields minimal influence. It is the bastion of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Patil is known to be on bad terms with Kharge’s son, state minister Priyank Kharge.
I’ll talk to him. The resignation letter arrived from Bengaluru, and I did not read it. “I’ll call him up,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in Mysuru on Saturday.
According to reports, Priyank has enormous power in Kalaburagi, and Patil has been feeling neglected despite his close proximity to the Chief Minister. Patil was expected to be appointed minister when the party took power in 2023, but the positions were filled by Priyank and another district MLA, Sharan Prakash Patil.
Siddaramaiah eventually recruited him as his political adviser to appease him. Sources say he was dissatisfied with his limited involvement in governance. Siddaramaiah also rarely included him in political confabulations, and he was unable to acquire developmental projects in his constituency due to a lack of funding.
According to insiders, Patil’s departure indicates the convoluted state of Karnataka Congress politics. According to sources, Patil resigned on Friday, citing “problems”. Party leaders stated he disagreed with some of the government’s policy initiatives.
Patil went on a dharna in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the grounds of the Karnataka Assembly last month to urge the passage of legislation ensuring farmers’ minimum support prices. Patil told reporters in Kalaburagi on Sunday that he had chosen to quit earlier but had to wait for the Karnataka Legislature (Prevention of Disqualification) Act to be passed before doing so. The law is intended to safeguard the CM and Deputy CM’s advisors from being disqualified as MLAs.
“I was relieved when the Governor granted assent to the Bill. I am free to resign,” Patil stated, adding that he will not revoke his resignation.
The MLA stated in his letter to the CM that he was “resigning due to some problems” that he had detailed. Patil stated that he had complained about development work at a Congress Legislature Party meeting. “However, nothing happened. “That is why I resigned,” he explained.
Patil wrote to Siddaramaiah in July 2023, just weeks after the Congress government was constituted, to protest about how some ministers treated MLAs unfairly. The letter sparked a debate and revealed the dissatisfaction of senior parliamentarians who did not make it to the Council of Ministers.
To appease the seniors, three of them—Patil, Basavaraj Rayareddy, and R S Deshpande—were assigned to critical Cabinet positions. Rayareddy was named economic advisor, and Deshpande was appointed chairperson of the Administrative Reforms Commission.
