NEW DELHI: Despite marathon meetings with the high command, the tussle between Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shiva Kumar over state’s tops job does not appear to be ending soon.As Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge courted both the leaders in Delhi to decide party candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, the point of interest remained the protracted leadership tussle.News agency PTI, citing sources, reported that the Shivakumar camp has been pressing Siddaramaiah to quit the top post and a formula to accommodate him in the central role has been offered to him, which he has not accepted. After the party meeting, Siddaramaiah once again held deliberations later in the evening with some ministers considered close to him.This comes after Congress high command held deliberations for several hours with Siddaramaiah and DKS at the Indira Bhawan headquarters.After the meeting Congress leader KC Venugopal, while interacting with reporters, insisted that the issue of any leadership change was not discussed at the meeting attended by Congress president Kharge, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.“Today, the entire discussion was only concentrated on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections and (Legislative) Council elections of Karnataka,” Venugopal said as he was flanked by Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.“Whatever speculation you people are doing, that is only speculation, no reality at all. Today we discussed about the Rajya Sabha seats and the Council seats of Karnataka. This is what we have decided today, and nothing else was discussed,” Venugopal told the media after the meeting. The meetings came against the backdrop of persistent tensions between the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar camps nearly three years after Congress returned to power in Karnataka.Before leaving Bengaluru for Delhi, Siddaramaiah said he was unaware of the agenda of the meeting.“I have been invited to Delhi. There is a meeting tomorrow (May 26). I do not know the subject of the meeting. They have called the meeting for 11 am. AICC general secretary and MP K C Venugopal called me, informed me about the meeting and invited me to attend,” Siddaramaiah said.The Congress leadership has intervened multiple times since the formation of the Karnataka government in 2023 to manage tensions between the two leaders. Supporters of Shivakumar have repeatedly claimed that a rotational chief ministership arrangement was agreed upon when the government was formed, though the Congress high command has never publicly confirmed such a formula.
