NEW DELHI: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday acknowledged the power tussle between Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar, saying that the party high command — Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi — will take a decision to resolve the crisis.“The high command – myself, Rahul ji and Sonia ji will together take a decision on the issue and resolve it,” Kharge said.
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar refuted media reports and reiterated that there is “no confusion” within the Congress.“There is no confusion. No one should demand anything. There are no groups. There is only one group — the Congress group. Our group is of 140 MLAs.”As the Congress government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term in Karnataka on November 20, the tug-of-war for the top job has intensified between chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar.Additionally, Karnataka minister and Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge also held discussions with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the leadership change issue in the state.According to reports, Priyank has conveyed Rahul’s message to both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, and they are likely to be called to New Delhi soon for a meeting aimed at resolving the matter.“Discussions are in the media. Will I meet Mohan Bhagwat (RSS chief) if not Rahul Gandhi? Will I report to Keshava Krupa (RSS state headquarters) without reporting to the CM and Deputy CM on my meeting? Rahul Gandhi was invited for the Bengaluru Tech Summit; he couldn’t come. I had sought his time to show our Artificial Intelligence Personal Computer,” Kharge said in response to a question.Earlier on Tuesday, a group of Congress MLAs traveled to New Delhi to meet senior party leaders, urging the high command to take a final call on the demand to elevate DK Shivakumar as the next chief minister.According to party insiders, six MLAs seen as close to Shivakumar flew to the capital on Sunday night for discussions with central leaders. More legislators are expected to follow. Last week, around ten MLAs had also met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress chief, said on Tuesday that he doesn’t want to speak on the matter in public as there was a “secret deal” between “5-6 of us” in the party and that he believes in his conscience.“I don’t know. I have not asked to make me the CM. It is a secret deal between five and six of us. I don’t want to speak publicly on this. I believe in my conscience. We should work with our conscience. I don’t want to cause embarrassment to the party in any way and weaken it. If the party is there, we are there. If workers are there, we are there,” Shivakumar said in response to a question.Speaking to reporters in his home constituency Kanakapura, he had said, “The CM has spoken. He is a senior leader. He is an asset for the party. He has completed 7.5 years as CM (including the 2013-2018 term).”On Siddaramaiah stating he will be presenting the next budget too, the deputy CM said: “I’m very happy. He had served as opposition leader in the past. He has also worked and built the party. We should all work together with the target of 2028 (assembly polls) and target 2029 (Lok Sabha election).”Asked whether there was a power sharing agreement after the Assembly polls in 2023, Shivakumar said, “Why should I speak about it? You (media) have written things.”
