Karnataka leadership change buzz: Congress leaders stay tight-lipped ahead of CM Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar breakfast meet

Amid the ongoing Karnataka leadership tussle, state's Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satish Jarkiholi on Wednesday said that "nothing has been officially communicated yet" and the decision on possible CM change will be clear only after Siddaramaiah speaks.

As per the party sources, the Congress high command has asked CM Siddaramaiah to step down, with Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar emerging as the clear front-runner to succeed him.

Jarkiholi was speaking to the media when he said, "Discussions took place yesterday, but nothing has been officially communicated yet. The CM has convened a breakfast meeting in Bengaluru tomorrow and we will participate in it. We will only know once he speaks.”

On being asked about his name doing the rounds as a potential candidate for the KPCC President post, he said, “I don't know, there hasn't been any specific discussion regarding that yet. General discussions are ongoing, of course, but the senior leaders haven't called me personally to discuss it so far. If they do, I will let you know what the situation is and how we will proceed."

"The party's decision will be final for everyone. Whatever decision the party takes, everyone must abide by it. It will become official tomorrow, so we just have to wait until then," he added.

CM Siddaramaiah refused to comment on the meeting with the party high command in Delhi yesterday and said that he will speak about it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Minister M B Patil has termed as "baseless" speculation that Siddaramaiah will resign.

"The speculation that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will resign is baseless. The question of resignation does not arise at all,” Patil told reporters on Wednesday.

“AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, the CM, and the Deputy CM have already addressed the media. Their statements have been carried by your media as well. They clearly said the discussion was only about the Rajya Sabha and MLC elections. Everything else is mere speculation. No other issue was discussed yesterday.”

He added, “We were at K J George’s residence in the morning and at night. He served us a good meal. All of us were with Siddaramaiah. We travelled together to Delhi and returned together.”

“Venugopal, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have all made public statements saying they were called only to discuss the Rajya Sabha elections. No other matter was discussed,” he said.

He further dismissed reports of Siddaramaiah's resignation after the breakfast meeting scheduled for Thursday, calling them “pure speculation”.

Responding to another question, he said, “Why should we insist that Siddaramaiah be continued? All of us are simply standing with him. We would press for continuity only if there was any move for change.”

Though names of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Home Minister G Parameshwara — both Dalit leaders — were also doing the rounds for the CM post, the party leadership finally decided in favour of Shivakumar as the next Chief Minister, sources told DH.

The decision is understood to honour the power-sharing arrangement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections. The party has chosen to adhere to the spirit of the two-and-a-half-year power-sharing pact.