The tug of war in the appointment of a new chief secretary in Karnataka has turned into a joke. A top civil servant equated the daily drama over the appointment of Karnataka CS with the appointment of 'Pradesh Congress Committee President'. Another commented "had it been related to a BJP ruled state, it would have no longer been even a matter of discussion. Modi would not have allowed any CM to turn the matter into a controversy." K'taka CM Siddharamaiah is said to have stuck to his choice of Subhash Chandra Khuntia (IAS:1981:KN) whose repatriation from central services was recently okayed by the PMO. The CM has named Khuntia as successor to Arvind Jadhav (IAS:1978:KN), the outgoing CS who is set to complete his extended tenure on 30th Sept. But the matter has turned into a caste war. Reportedly, Congress VP Rahul Gandhi, LoP Mallikarjun Khadge and RG's adviser K Raju are strongly advocating for Ratna Prabha (IAS:1981:KN), a Dalit officer, to be named as Chief Secretary of the state. Siddaramaiah had made his intent clear to the party leadership that he would prefer an upright officer from backward caste over a Dalit officer under several corruption charges. He is also learnt to have conveyed to the party high command that he had already appointed Dalit officers as state DGP & Bengaluru Police Commissioner. It seems that the Congress high command has been wanting to exploit the issue as an opportunity to refurbish its sunk image of a pro-Dalit party. It is another question whether the matter would at all help the party sell itself to the Dalit in UP.