Bengaluru: Can Dalit leaders who are fighting for the CM post convert their struggle into a political agitation? While those involved in the agitation claim they can, other Dalit leaders who have kept themselves away from the controversy say it is an ill-timed move.

Former IAS officer K. Shivaramu, one of those demanding a change of CM , told this newspaper that making a Dalit the CM and appointing Mr Siddaramaiah as KPCC president will not strain relations with other communities. “We are following what Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar once said that the Congress was a burning house, one should not enter the house in order to save oneself (read Dalits). In spite of his warning against supporting the Congress, the community backed the party for the last 60 years.

Shouldn’t we demand a CM post at least after 60 years? We want to take this struggle forward, whether we get the CM post or not, we will at least be able to awaken the community”. Mr Mavalli Shankar, state secretary of Dalit Sangharsha Samithi which has roots across the state, said, “It would be inappropriate to demand the CM post for Dalits at this juncture when the state is headed by a leader belonging to the deprived classes. We should have made this demand when the Congress was electing its Legislature party leader in 2013.” He clarified that his outfit was not against the demand for a Dalit CM per se but was against the idea of pushing for it at this juncture.

Another Dalit leader on the condition of anonymity derided this movement stating that those who were demanding a change of CM, had backed BJP or JD(S) in their career. “Mr Shivaramu was in JD(S) while RPI’s M. Venkatswamy and Madiga Dandora Samiti president Shankarappa had backed BJP. The struggle may not take the shape of a pan-Karnataka movement as people in the community may not them seriously,” the leader observed.