NEW DELHI: The Siddaramaiah-DK Shivakumar tug-of-war over the Karnataka Chief Minister’s post – a squabble that has rumbled on since the Congress won the 2023 election – seemed to lurch to an end Monday evening, after party boss Mallikarjun Kharge (finally) put his foot down. Congress sources said Kharge demanded the warring leaders – to meet for breakfast again on Tuesday – honour the deal made two years – that Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar will split the five-year term.
Sources said Kharge called for that promise to be upheld, arguing “that word was given in my presence… and it should be honoured. Otherwise, I have no credibility in my own state”. This is the second time Mallikarjun Kharge has pushed the Congress to resolve this issue as quickly as possible; last week he called for a settlement before Parliament’s winter session.
Kharge then said Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and he would “fix” the problem. The response was setting up a Siddaramaiah-DKS breakfast meeting and, to keep each side happy, indicated that leadership change is a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’.
Now the lead actors in this spat – the biggest to roil the Congress since Sachin Pilot challenged Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan – will meet for a second ‘power breakfast’ sources said, this time Tuesday at DKS’ home, to thrash out that transition.
And DKS will then be called to Delhi within a fortnight to meet the Congress’ core leadership, sources also said, to be given an ‘assurance’ that his take-over efforts will bear fruit. However, there may still be a not insignificant sticking point; given that senior leader Rahul Gandhi, Kharge’s predecessor, is not fully convinced a mid-term change is in the party’s best interest.
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