Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has been facing blistering attacks from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for his pro-minority credentials, is now battling a new challenge. The state government's 18 October order regulating the activities of private organisations, societies, trusts or any registered entities on government properties has riled up right-wing organisations that see the ban as targeting their shakha activities.
The genesis for the order follows a sustained verbal duel between the RSS and Information Technology & Biotechnology and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank M Kharge after the minister wrote to the state government seeking a ban on their activities in government spaces.
Based on Kharge's letter, the Karnataka cabinet decided to reissue the education department's circular dated 7 February 2013, during the BJP's Jagdish Shettar's tenure as Chief Minister, which prohibited the use of government premises for private or non-academic purposes. The decision has resulted in Kharge receiving threats and flak on social media.
The Young Turks
Although Siddaramaiah's cabinet colleagues, including Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, have rallied behind the CM on what the BJP calls "appeasement to the minorities'' and dubbed the state budget for 2025-2026 as "halal budget'' for allocating Rs 4,535 crore for minority welfare, two young Turks in his ministry have turned out to be the most vocal critics of the right-wing organisations.
Kharge and Labour Minister Santosh S Lad are Siddaramaiah's poster boys and trouble shooters, whether it is in taking on the BJP and the RSS critics or undertaking rescue operations of people from Karnataka stranded in accidents across the country. So who are these poster boys?
Priyank Kharge, 46, is the son of All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun M Kharge and a three-term MLA from Chittapur Assembly constituency in Kalaburagi district.
In 2016, at the age of 38, he was the youngest minister to be inducted into Siddaramaiah's cabinet as the Information Technology & Biotechnology and Tourism Minister. Lad, 50, hails from a mining magnate family and started his political career in the Janata Dal (Secular). Like Kharge 'junior', he was the youngest MLA at 29 to win from Sandur in 2004 on a JD(S) ticket. In 2008, with Sandur becoming a reserved constituency in the delimitation exercise, Lad won from Kalghatgi in Dharwad district as a Congress candidate and has been with the party since.
Congress MLC and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (Media and Communication Department) Chairman Ramesh Babu said that though all ministers have been supportive of Siddaramaiah on the purported minority appeasement allegations, Kharge is the front-runner taking on the RSS, along with his communications cell engaged in it.
"The communication department was the first to release the government circular issued during the BJP government banning RSS activities in government institutions,'' Babu claimed.
Kharge's Face Off with RSS
Kharge's face-off with the right-wing organisations is not a recent development. In September 2022, citizens of Bengaluru woke up to posters across the city with photographs of former chief minister, and now BJP MP from Haveri, Basavaraj Bommai, with the title 'PayCM', resembling the electronic wallet Paytm. Bommai's face figured in the middle of the QR code with the message '40 percent accepted here.'
The poster was the beginning of an aggressive campaign launched by the Congress party ahead of the Assembly polls in May 2023. The posters asked citizens to click on the QR code, which led to a website of the Congress, where the alleged corruption charges against the BJP government were listed.
There were over one lakh downloads of the QR code on the posters, before the police started removing them and registered a complaint against Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
The posters were the brainchild of political strategist Sunil Kanagolu from the AICC war room based in Bengaluru, and Kharge who was heading the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (Media and Communication Department) then. The '40 percent' jibe was a reference to the allegations made by Karnataka contractors, who claimed BJP ministers, party MLAs, and bureaucrats were taking 40 percent of the tender amount as bribe.
Speaking with The Quint, Kharge said if the PayCM campaign was just rhetoric, the Congress after coming to power would not have appointed retired judges to probe into the charges. The probe report is now being evaluated by Shivakumar.
"We want to legally fight issues and see to their logical end on everything we speak. It's just a matter of time that law will catch up with them.''Priyank Kharge
On the RSS issue, Kharge said he had the support of all his cabinet colleagues while senior Kharge and party leader Sonia Gandhi's family are clear in their ideology regarding the organisation. He questioned the RSS need to hold 100 path sanchalan (route marches) in Bengaluru to mark its centenary celebrations.
"The civil society is questioning the Congress government on why permission was given to the RSS to hold these marches when there is a designated place in the city for such events. The RSS does not seek permission but just intimates that marches are going to be held from point A to B or C to D. No government is a slave to any organisation,'' he maintained.
According to Kharge, what pricked the RSS most were his queries about their children not being given the "trishul diksha or being compelled to wear the ganvesha (RSS uniform) or drink gomutra or become cow vigilantes, and asking the organisation to furnish its registration documents.''
"Throw those registration documents on the Congress faces and get done with it,'' he maintained.
"The RSS has not been able to reply to my queries on why RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat gets security equivalent to the Union Minister for External Affairs, who gave the title 'Veer' to Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or why the latter said India is 'pitribhumi' and not 'mathrubhumi'. When they don't' know the answers they get personal."Priyank Kharge
The Congress leader added that what the RSS is propagating is not documented history but from their "WhatsApp University".
"I am only asking them to read the editorials published in Organiser, the mouthpiece of the RSS,'' he said.
Meanwhile Eedina.com, a Kannada website in its report on 22 October, noted that soon after Revenue Minister Krishna Byregowda condemned the personal insults against Kharge on his Facebook page, the RSS tried to create an "artificial opinion toolkit" which the news portal claimed appeared "suspicious".
Eedina.com said it conducted a study on the authenticity of the artificial opinions and came to know that "there is a systematic conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar" to defame Kharge as most of the comments simply said the same thing: "You (Byregowda) are good, you have our support. But don't defend Kharge, he is bad.''
The Do-gooder Lad
Lad, the second poster boy of Siddaramaiah, is sent on troubleshooting assignments outside the state, the latest being to rescue the 178 tourists from Karnataka who were stranded after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April 2025. Speaking to the media, Lad said he spent 48 hours going around looking for the tourists without taking a break.
His first assignment as a troubleshooter was when he was deputed to Uttarakhand for coordination purposes in regard to rescue and safety of Karnataka pilgrims caught in the floods. In June 2023, he was at Balasore in Odisha, to rescue Kannadigas caught in the train accident and in August 2024 he was asked by Siddaramaiah to go to Wayanad, Kerala, to help with relief and rescue operations after the devastating floods.
Besides, Lad has his foundation which is involved in philanthropic activities. The foundation's website says Lad turned into a philanthropist from traumatic rescue missions assigned to him by the state government.
As minister in charge of labour, he is credited with introducing the Menstrual Leave Policy, 2025 to ensure the well-being of women employees and promote workplace inclusivity. Under the policy, women will be entitled to one paid leave per month during menstruation and applies to women working in government offices, garment industries, multinational companies, IT firms, and other private sector organisations across the state.
He is also instrumental in getting the government to approve social security and welfare measures for the gig workers in the state. A welfare board has been created, funded by a 1-5 percent fee on aggregator platforms, and covers a wide range of services including food and ride delivery, logistics, and e-marketplaces.
(Naheed Ataulla is a senior political journalist based in Bengaluru. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)