BENGALURU: As Chief Minister Siddaramaiah revealed at a public meeting in Kittur on Saturday that the high command had given its nod for a cabinet reshuffle 4-5 months ago, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday evening rushed to New Delhi to meet high command leaders.
He may meet the top brass and remind them about the agreement on the post coming to him at the middle of the party’s five-year term, which is in November. The agreement is supposed to have been struck in 2023 when the party came to power. Sources, however, said Shivakumar’s visit to Delhi is purely personal and has nothing to do with politics.
Shivakumar is taking an appointment with leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on the pretext of inviting him for laying the foundation stone for 100 congress bhavans in Bengaluru on November 20, sources said. If and when he meets Rahul, he will of course bring up political happenings in the state, including Siddaramaiah’s MLC-son Dr Yathindra’s statement that PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi would be the ideological heir to his father, the sources added.
Though it is yet to be seen whether Rahul would give an appointment to Shivakumar, if the two meet, it would send a wrong signal as Rahul should be focusing on Bihar elections, sources said.
When reporters asked Shivakumar on Sunday morning about his Delhi visit, he shot back, saying, “I will go whenever I have work. I will go every day, I will visit whenever I feel like taking a rest. I will go shopping, on court cases, to meet the media...” But it was the same Shivakumar who had said recently that he would not visit Delhi anytime soon as leaders are busy with the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.
Shivakumar said, “We are setting up 100 Congress bhavans to mark 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi leading the freedom struggle. Rahul Gandhi will come one day and lay the foundation stone.
The date may be fixed after the Bihar elections.” Shivakumar is being forced to visit Delhi as the Siddaramaiah camp is repeatedly making statements about leadership, sources said. Shivakumar wants to send out a message to his followers on his clout by meeting high command leaders in Delhi, they added.
There is a sense within Congress that if Siddaramaiah goes ahead with the cabinet reshuffle, it would put an end Shivakumar’s aspirations of assuming the Chief Minister’s post in this term of the party. Siddaramaiah’s associate and former minister KN Rajanna said in Tumakuru on Sunday that if a reshuffle happens, Siddaramaiah will continue as Chief Minister for five years.
