After marathon meetings, Rahul Gandhi ‘pressed’ Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to quit

Details of the marathon Congress meetings in Delhi on Tuesday that triggered the change of guard in Karnataka indicate party high command’s insistence on immediate change in leadership even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah sought two weeks time to table the caste census report in the Cabinet.

Sources told DH that Siddaramaiah was reminded that he had already exceeded two-and-a-half years power-sharing agreement made with his deputy D K Shivakumar in 2023 when Congress won a thumping majority.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, is learnt to have reminded the veteran leader that he has to honour the promise made three years back. 

After intense deliberations, including exclusive closed-door discussions with Rahul Gandhi,

Siddaramaiah agreed to resign without further delay.

The Congress high command told the CM that his services would be utilised at the national level in Delhi.

The party leadership, including Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, is understood to have backed the leadership change to uphold the party’s credibility regarding such understanding. 

While praising the state government’s performance, Rahul emphasised the need for unity, and urged both leaders to abide by the high command’s decision.

This was followed by Rahul’s joint meeting with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. Later he held a separate meeting with both the leaders. 

Rahul later held another exclusive discussion with Siddaramaiah in the evening, reiterating the high command’s position. 

When Siddaramaiah attempted to explain that no formal agreement existed for stepping down in 2025, Rahul stood firm on the party’s position.

The Congress leadership is also learnt to have reminded Siddaramaiah that he had already served as chief minister for over eight years and as leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, and it was time to give others an opportunity. 

After emerging from the meeting, Siddaramaiah, sources say, consulted senior leaders Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala, who also advised him to accept the high command’s directive.

Later in the evening, Siddaramaiah drove to the residence of Energy Minister K J George and met his close confidantes. 

Some ministers reportedly suggested he should not take a hurried decision, but Siddaramaiah told them he would not wait any longer.

“From the very beginning, I have been saying that I would resign whenever Rahul asked me to. Now that Rahul has asked me to step down, I will quit immediately,” Siddaramaiah told his ministerial colleagues, according to sources.

The development marks a significant leadership transition in Karnataka, with the Congress high command prioritising adherence to the original power-sharing understanding to maintain internal discipline, a senior leader in the Congress said. 

After the May 2023 Assembly elections, an informal power-sharing pact was reportedly agreed upon at the time between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, under which Siddaramaiah would serve for the first 2.5 years (roughly until late 2025) as the CM before making way for Shivakumar for the remaining 2.5 years. Siddaramaiah has publicly denied any such formal agreement.

After losing power at the Centre in 2014, Congress high command has found it difficult to rein in regional satraps like Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan, Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh in Madhya Pradesh and Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh. In the three states, the party was not able to usher in leadership change despite having promised rotational chief ministership to other aspirants.

After winning big in Kerala recently and having got into a coalition government in Tamil Nadu, Congress leadership is now sending a strong message to the party leaders in the state to fall in line.