Karnataka Congress Leadership Crisis: Siddaramaiah-DK Shivakumar Power Struggle Intensifies

Bengaluru:

The Congress party's leadership drama in Karnataka has intensified significantly this Thursday.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's supporters are prepared to travel to Delhi to lobby the party leadership to keep him in power, sources informed NDTV. Currently adopting a "wait-and-watch" approach, Siddaramaiah previously acknowledged the "confusion" surrounding his position and urged the party to resolve the matter definitively.

According to sources, Siddaramaiah's camp will mobilize if party president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi show even slight indications of promoting Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar to the chief minister position, despite Shivakumar publicly downplaying his ambitions for the role.

If the party insists on replacing Siddaramaiah, his supporters plan to present alternative candidates, highlighting the profound division between the two leaders who have contested the leadership position since Congress' significant electoral victory in 2023.

One potential alternative is Home Minister G Parameshwara, a Siddaramaiah supporter and prominent Dalit leader, who raised eyebrows by stating: "I've always been in the race (to be Chief Minister)."

This strategy was established during a Wednesday meeting led by PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, another Siddaramaiah loyalist, who told NDTV that the party's central leadership needs to address this issue conclusively.

While Jarkiholi has met with DK Shivakumar, neither disclosed details about their discussion.

Kharge and the Gandhis are expected to convene either today or tomorrow to resolve this situation.

A frustrated Kharge informed reporters, "Sonia, Rahul, and I will fix it..."

The plan involves summoning both Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar to Delhi following the Kharge-Gandhis meeting.

Throughout this situation, Shivakumar has maintained a largely non-confrontational stance, making politically appropriate statements including endorsing his rival and minimizing supportive declarations made on his behalf, such as Ramanagara MLA Iqbal Hussain's "200 per cent sure" comment supporting Shivakumar.

Nevertheless, he has occasionally made cryptic yet pointed remarks, including reminders about honoring promises—clearly directed at Siddaramaiah.

The conflict between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar emerged after Congress' election victory in 2023. The party selected Siddaramaiah as chief minister, a position Shivakumar believed he deserved for orchestrating the electoral success.

Instead, Shivakumar was appointed deputy chief minister while retaining his position as the party's state unit president, with the Congress bending its "one man, one post" rule to accommodate this arrangement. There were also discussions about an "agreement"—referenced in Shivakumar's comments about a "secret deal between five or six of us"—that would see Siddaramaiah step down halfway through the five-year term.

That midpoint passed last week, prompting lawmakers supporting Shivakumar to increase pressure on the party to implement the leadership change. Shivakumar himself has made no secret of his aspirations for the chief minister position, seemingly emphasizing this recently by suggesting he might resign as Karnataka Congress president.

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