BD NarayankarBengaluru, Aug. 21 -- In Karnataka politics, changing the man in the Chief Minister's chair is easier than changing the men around him.
D K Shivakumar took the chair on June 3 after weeks of Congress negotiations in Delhi and the exit of Siddaramaiah. But nearly three months on, the former Chief Minister's political shadow has proved harder to dismiss than his official presence.
Siddaramaiah may have left Vidhana Soudha, but the political arithmetic of his years in power has not packed its bags and left with him.
Shivakumar's first test was expected to be governance. Instead, it has been the Cabinet - who gets in, who stays out, who gets which portfolio and, more importantly, who gets to decide.
The new Chief Minister began...