Power game? CM Siddaramaiah skips Congress high command's lunch, fuels speculation

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing power tussle in the Karnataka Congress, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday skipped a lunch hosted by the Congress top brass in the national capital ahead of the mega “Vote Chori” rally at Ramlila Maidan, raising eyebrows among the party high command.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge hosted the lunch for Congress Working Committee members and other senior leaders at Indira Bhavan, the Congress headquarters, at 1 pm.

All top leaders, including senior leader Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, and others, were present.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the KPCC president, attended it. Though invitations were extended to all Congress-ruled state chief ministers, including from Karnataka, Siddaramaiah skipped the lunch.

As planned, after the lunch, all leaders proceeded to the rally ground in a show of strength.

While the CM was not available for comment on skipping the lunch, the party leadership also made no statement.

However, a senior Congress leader in Delhi said the conspicuous absence of Siddaramaiah could also be seen as an attempt by the Karnataka CM to send a signal to party leadership in the midst of the ongoing tussle with his deputy on leadership change.

According to the schedule, the CM was supposed to leave HAL Airport in Bengaluru on a chartered flight at 10 am on Sunday and land in Delhi at 12.30 pm. However, the flight took off at 10.30 am, landed at 1 pm, and he reached Karnataka Bhavan at 2 pm. At Karnataka Bhavan, he had lunch as per his minute-to-minute programme.

After lunch, he went straight to the rally at Ramlila Maidan. After the event, he drove directly to the airport and boarded a special flight at 5. 15 pm for Belagavi without meeting any leaders.

Interestingly, though Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy not only attended the lunch but also addressed the rally. Several state presidents also spoke at the event. Both Siddaramaiah or Shivakumar did not address the Ramlila Maidaan rally. 

Shivakumar, who arrived in the national capital on Saturday, was seen actively mingling with other leaders during the lunch. He even stayed back in Delhi and met Congress General Secretary (in-charge of Karnataka) Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Earlier this month, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal held a closed-door meeting with Siddaramaiah in Mangaluru. Following that, Sonia Gandhi also deliberated with top leaders on Karnataka developments. However, Venugopal said that the party’s high command will discuss this issue again.