BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday, just hours before meeting Congress high command leaders in New Delhi, asserted that there is no question of a leadership change and reiterated that he will remain Chief Minister for the full five-year term.
He further stated that the 2028 Karnataka Assembly elections will be contested under his leadership as CM, sending a clear message from the national capital to Deputy CM D K Shivakumar and his supporters, who have been pushing for a leadership change.
Siddaramaiah also dismissed reports of a high command-level pact to hand over the Chief Minister's post to D K Shivakumar after two and a half years.
"If there was a pact would I have said I will be the CM for five years recently? Is the CM seat vacant? Why do you spread grapevine and make speculations?," he shot back at reporters' queries.
"One or two MLAs may have said, out of love and affection, that D K Shivakumar should become the CM. Those were their personal opinions, not the party's decision. In fact, many more MLAs have said that I should continue as Chief Minister," he stated.
For any such change, the Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge, General Secretary K C Venugopal should take a call, he clarified.
“It’s natural for questions to arise after two and a half years of completion of the government’, but that doesn’t mean there will be a change in leadership,” he said in response to a query.
Siddaramaiah clarified that Rahul Gandhi had not called him for a meeting, but he would meet him if given an appointment.
He, however, informed that he would be meeting AICC general secretary Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, who is arriving in New Delhi on Thursday evening after meeting Congress MLAs in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, defending Siddaramaiah’s statement in Bengaluru, PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi told reporters that Siddaramaiah was elected Chief Minister by the MLAs with a clear mandate.
He noted that AICC general secretary Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala’s meetings with most of the 138 Congress MLAs and his assessment of their mood had worked in Siddaramaiah’s favour.
“Maybe around twenty MLAs, about 10 per cent, might have expressed a desire for a change in leadership,” he claimed.
