BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara met AICC General Secretaries, KC Venugopal (Organisation) and Randeep Singh Surjewala (Karnataka in-charge), separately and discussed the recent political developments.
While Shivakumar met them for over an hour on Tuesday night, Dr Parameshwara held talks with the two central leaders on Wednesday, sources told TNIE.
During the meeting, Shivakumar insisted that the power sharing agreement should be honoured and Siddaramaiah should demit office after completing his two-and-a-half-year tenure in October 2025, highly placed sources said.
There is also talk within the party that AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and LoP in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi are likely to take a decision on changing CM, a senior Congress leader said. “That is why the two general secretaries did not meet Siddaramaiah. They restricted themselves to addressing issues impacting the party and government,” he added.
But the recent ED raid on educational institutions linked to Parameshwara with regard to the Ranya Rao gold smuggling case may have come up for discussion, party sources said. Shivakumar, after meeting Parameshwara soon after the raids, had said the home minister had gifted Ranya Rao Rs 40 lakh, but the statement had not gone down well with several Congress leaders, including Dr Parameshwara, the sources said.
Venugopal and Surjewala also met the aspirants for MLC elections, as four seats have been vacant for over seven months. A Congress leader said, “The announcement might get delayed further as party men are against the names of three nominees who are not party members.”