From The Urdu Press Behind Shivakumars Elevation Rahul Gandhis New Politics Bjp Top Brass Must Defuse Bengal Storm

From politics to education, the changing of the guard in the Congress government in Karnataka to the NEET-CBSE rows and youth protests the Urdu dailies covered multiple grounds over the week, spotlighting the concerns and anguish of millions of young students... From politics to education, the changing of the guard in the Congress government in Karnataka to the NEET-CBSE rows and youth protests — the Urdu dailies covered multiple grounds over the week, spotlighting the concerns and anguish of millions of young students and their families. The dailies also kept the focus on the fraught political situation in West Bengal turning more volatile in the first month of the first-ever BJP government. Referring to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s elevation as a successor to CM Siddaramaiah, the New Delhi edition of Inquilab, in its May 31 editorial, says the development indicated that the Congress high command was no longer in a mood to let itself be held hostage to the intra-party power struggle and factional feuds in the state. “The Congress leadership seems to have learnt an essential lesson by its failures to tackle similar tussles in some other states in the past, such as between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan, or between Bhupesh Baghel and T S Singh Deo in Chhattisgarh, when the party was ruling these states,” it states. The Congress had paid the price for not having resolved those festering conflicts, choosing instead to capitulate to the brinkmanship of certain party satraps, the edit says. This time, however, the party leadership took a decisive stand, pushing Siddaramaiah to step down and make way for his deputy as per their unofficial power-sharing arrangement. The daily points out that Vokkaliga heavyweight Shivakumar, popularly known as DKS, who had started his political innings with the Congress’s student wing NSUI, has been a staunch loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family. “In 2019, when DKS was sent to Tihar jail in a case, Sonia Gandhi had herself gone there to meet him,” it notes. DKS has also proved to be a key troubleshooter for his party through its various crises over the years, the edit says. “Another factor that went in favour of DKS is that at 64 he is a younger leader than Siddaramaiah, 77, who has already surpassed the seven years and 238 days record of Congress stalwart Devaraj Urs for being the longest serving Karnataka CM.” The editorial notes that the Congress leadership had been drawing a lot of criticism from media and other quarters in recent years for its apparent inability to put its act together. “However, the party has now smoothly resolved the protracted tug of war between its two top leaders in a crucial state, whose credit has been given to Rahul Gandhi’s strategy and prudence. Rahul is getting inclined towards taking decisions quickly and promoting younger leadership in the party,” it says. This was seen recently after the Tamil Nadu election results when the Congress lost no time in joining hands with