Trouble is deepening within the Congress in Karnataka as the party leadership moves towards disciplinary action against some of its own functionaries over allegations that they worked against the official candidate in the Davanagere South by-election. The dispute has opened a fresh fault line inside the ruling party at a politically sensitive moment, with voting already over and attention shifting from campaign management to accountability within the organisation.
At the centre of the row is Samarth Mallikarjun, the Congress nominee for Davanagere South and grandson of former legislator Shamanur Shivashankarappa, whose death in December 2025 necessitated the bypoll. Congress chose to retain the seat within the Shamanur family, but the decision triggered discontent among sections of minority leaders who had pressed for a Muslim candidate in a constituency where Muslim voters account for more than a third of the electorate. That grievance, visible since March, became the backdrop to accusations that some leaders either stayed away from the campaign or allowed resentment to harden into anti-party activity.
The by-election was held on April 9, with counting scheduled for May 4, under a calendar announced by the Election Commission in March. Alongside Davanagere South, Bagalkot also went to the polls after the death of sitting Congress MLA H Y Meti. While the outcome will not decide the survival of the state government, it has acquired weight far beyond the numbers because it is being read as a test of Congress cohesion in Karnataka and of the working relationship between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and state party chief D K Shivakumar.
The immediate trigger for the present turmoil came after a group of Congress Muslim leaders, including Saleem Ahmed and Rizwan Arshad, publicly alleged that senior figures within their own party had helped create a narrative that Congress had “betrayed” minorities in Davanagere South. They said this messaging damaged the campaign and gave an opening to rivals and independents. Reports from multiple outlets said the complaint was escalated to the state leadership and the All India Congress Committee, with allegations focusing on leaders who had either lobbied for a different candidate or failed to campaign with conviction after the ticket was finalised.
Abdul Jabbar, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee minority cell and a leader from Davanagere who had himself been seen as an aspirant, has already become the first high-profile casualty. His resignation, submitted on April 3 but kept out of public view until after polling, was accepted by Shivakumar, who also dissolved the minority cell committee formed under Jabbar’s leadership. Reports have also pointed to pressure on Naseer Ahmed, Siddaramaiah’s political secretary and a member of the Legislative Council, while Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan has been repeatedly named in political speculation, though no final action against him has been publicly confirmed.
The dispute reflects more than a candidate-selection quarrel. Davanagere South has become a case study in how Congress’s social coalition can fray when representation claims, factional loyalties and family succession collide. The party calculated that the Shamanur name, backed by the Lingayat influence of the family and the broader advantages of incumbency, would outweigh dissent. But rival calculations emerged within the minority leadership, especially after a single Muslim name was pushed internally and then set aside. The presence of multiple Muslim contestants, including candidates outside Congress, added to fears of vote division and sharpened the sense that even a local rebellion could carry wider consequences for the party’s standing before the 2028 Assembly election.
For Siddaramaiah, the affair is awkward because it strikes at the discipline of a government that has sought to project stability after returning to office in 2023. For Shivakumar, it is a test of organisational authority. Congress leaders have tried to contain the damage by framing the episode as a corrective step rather than a wider breakdown, yet the public nature of the accusations has made that harder. Political observers quoted in the Karnataka press say that even losing one of the two bypolls would intensify scrutiny of the party’s internal management and could widen existing rivalries at the top.
Supreme Court keeps Lalu trial on track 