After Siddu's one-up, ministers queue up to meet Kharge

Bengaluru: As Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah drew blood in the leadership tussle with his deputy DK Shivakumar, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence here became the centre of action when several ministers lined up to meet the Congress veteran.

Ministers HK Patil, G Parameshwara, Dr HC Mahadevappa, Satish Jarkiholi, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Eshwar Khandre and Dr Sharan Prakash Patil held talks with Kharge soon after Siddaramaiah made his intentions known in New Delhi that he will be at the helm of affairs for a full term.

Most of the ministers who met Kharge at his Sadashivanagar residence are Siddaramaiah loyalists. Them meeting Kharge is being seen as a show of strength in favour of Siddaramaiah and to double down on the opinion that he should stay on.

The ministers, however, played down their meeting with Kharge. "He's the Congress president. I wanted to meet him before he left for New Delhi," Rao said. On Siddaramaiah's statement, Rao said: "Since the CM has clarified, there's no need to talk about this anymore."

The likes of Zameer, Mahadevappa and Sharan Prakash Patil said it was a "courtesy meeting" with Kharge.

HK Patil declined to comment. "Kharge has directed us not to speak anything about the post of chief minister or Karnataka Congress president," he said.

Meanwhile, Shivakumar has maintained stoic silence.

Kunigal MLA Dr HD Ranganath said Shivakumar deserves to become the CM. "He has toiled for 40 years to build Congress. I take pride in saying he was the primary reason for Congress to win 140 seats," Ranganath, Shivakumar's relative, said. "He will become the CM one day."

'The match is over'

Endorsing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's assertion that he would be at the helm for the full term, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi on Thursday declared 'game over' for MLAs backing Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

"Only 10 per cent of MLAs favour a change in leadership. What the CM has said is a clear message to those 10 per cent MLAs. The umpire has decided that the match is over," Jarkiholi said.

The minister also endorsed Siddaramaiah's claim that very few MLAs are supporting Shivakumar's chief ministerial ambition. "An election was held in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting. Siddaramaiah was made CM because he won that election," he said.