Siddaramaiah's repeated 'chest-thumping' on completing term direct snub to Congress high command: Ashoka

Bengaluru: BJP leader R Ashoka on Thursday said Chief Minister CM Siddaramaiah's "repeated chest-thumping" about completing a full term, despite the supposed "power-sharing agreement", was nothing short of a direct snub to the Congress high command.

When a sitting CM keeps reiterating his own permanence while conveniently ignoring the party's internal commitments, "it's not confidence, it's defiance," the Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly said.

Siddaramaiah had on Wednesday asserted that he will be in office for a full five-year term, amid speculations about leadership change in the ruling Congress later this year.

"What happened to the (Congress) "high command's will"? Has it been reduced to a rubber stamp in Karnataka? Or has Siddaramaiah already declared independence from party discipline?" Ashoka asked in a post on 'X'.

"By brushing aside the power-sharing pact and daringly stating "why should there be a doubt", he's not just undermining Karnataka Congress Chief and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, he's publicly diminishing the authority of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge," Ashoka said.

Kharge had on Monday asserted that it is up to the party high command to decide on matters such as change of guard.

If the Congress high command had any real control, they would not allow their own CM to so brazenly contradict internal arrangements, Ashoka further said.

But then again, maybe the CM's chair in Karnataka is decided by "lottery" and "luck", not leadership and loyalty, he added.

The question now is not whether Siddaramaiah will complete his term, it's whether the Congress high command has the spine to assert itself, Ashoka said.

There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the chief minister's post after the declaration of Assembly election results in May 2023, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the deputy CM.

There were some reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational chief minister formula," according to which Shivakumar will become CM after two-and-half years, but they have not been officially confirmed by the party.