BENGALURU: The impasse over the change in leadership in the Karnataka Congress government showed some sign of coming to an end with AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge stating that the crisis would be resolved in consultation with senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
“See, only the people there (in Karnataka) can say what the government is doing there. But what I would like to say is that we will resolve such issues. We the high command—Rahulji, our great leader Sonia Gandhi, and I—will sit together and deliberate on this. What medicine should be given will be given accordingly,” Kharge told media persons in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Karnataka RDPR and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge, who met Rahul on Tuesday, told reporters in Bengaluru on Wednesday that the Congress top brass will meet in Delhi on Thursday and Friday and discuss the leadership crisis. “They will deliberate on the party’s defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections and the issue of backward classes. On this occasion, the developments in Karnataka will also be discussed, and the confusion will be resolved,” Priyank said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that Rahul had summoned Priyank for a discussion.
According to informed sources, it was after Deputy CM DK Shivakumar demonstrated his mettle as a serious contender for the top post and reached out to a section of MLAs and even ministers from the Siddaramaiah camp that forced the high command to take a call to resolve the issue. Sources added that Shivakumar had conveyed the message that there was a power-sharing agreement reached between him and Siddaramaiah in 2023 at the high command level.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife about whether the high command will summon Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to Delhi on November 29 to resolve the issue. “The party high command will decide on the CM’s post, the transfer of power, and other developments. Senior party leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, will hold deliberations and take the right decision,” Shivakumar told reporters at a programme organised to mark the Constitution Day at the KPCC office in Bengaluru. “The CM’s chair or any other position is not as important as working together to bring the party back to power in the state,” he added.
At the same time, Siddaramaiah was attending a Constitution Day programme at Dr Ambedkar Bhavan in Bengaluru. His aide and Social Welfare Minister Dr HC Mahadevappa asked the audience, mostly Dalits and people belonging to the Backward Classes, to “safeguard” Siddaramaiah as CM.
“To fulfill the constitutional aspiration of equality, I have delivered many welfare schemes to the doorsteps of the people as CM in my first tenure. Now, we have implemented five guarantees to eliminate inequality and bring economic power to everyone,” Siddaramaiah said. Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah’s right-hand man and Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi held a luncheon meeting with a group of MLAs in a private hotel in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar held deliberations for over an hour with Satish and sought the latter’s cooperation if the high command decides to make the former the CM, a source told TNIE.
Shivakumar had also offered to sacrifice the KPCC president and DCM posts, the source added. Both leaders, however, maintained that their meeting had nothing to do with the ongoing leadership tussle and the impending cabinet reshuffle but was about the party organisation.
“Satish Jarkiholi is a senior leader of the party. I am the KPCC president, and he is the working president. We share a very cordial relationship and work together. He is a big asset to the party, and we will continue to work together in the future. It has been 2.5 years since we assumed office. We discussed what needs to be done in the remaining tenure,” Shivakumar told reporters.
“I do not have any faction. There is one faction, which is the ‘Congress faction.’ My number is 140. This party has been built due to collective leadership. I have not worked alone for the party. Under the presidency of Mallikarjun Kharge and the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and all the MLAs have brought the party to power in the state,” Shivakumar said.