'Rift in Congress over Karnataka Congress': Surjewala, Malviya cross swords on X

New Delhi: Speculations over change of leadership in the state has led to a fierce exchange between BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya and Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar were in the national capital earlier this week and both sought separate appointments with Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi. However, Rahul did not give appointments to either of them, to avoid speculations over leadership change.

Malviya said in a post on X that Siddaramaiah had been “humiliated” in the national capital after being denied an appointment with Rahul.

Claiming that the chief minister had returned empty-handed, Malviya suggested that Siddaramaiah’s political authority was being undermined.

He likened the episode to the ‘sacking’ of former chief minister Veerendra Patil by late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, calling it a ‘historic insult’ to a leader from the state.

Malviya claimed that Siddaramaiah was now “forced to hide behind the very man plotting against him — D K Shivakumar,” suggesting an internal power struggle within the Congress’ state unit.

Responding strongly, Surjewala accused Malviya of peddling lies and launched a counterattack.

Surjewala, in his post on X, described Malviya as “a bizarre whacko” and said the BJP was facing a fratricidal crisis in Karnataka.

He said Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had visited Delhi to urge the union government to address Karnataka’s concerns and alleged that the Modi government had consistently shown “inimical hatred” towards the state.

Surjewala listed several pending issues, including alleged denial of funds, refusal to notify the award of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2 and lack of clearances for major projects like Upper Bhadra, Yettinahole, Kalasa-Banduri and Mekedatu.

He claimed that Rs 1.87 lakh crore was denied to the state by the Centre under the 15th Finance Commission and accused the government of not allocating money under the National Disaster Response Fund, despite repeated requests.