Last Updated:
A group of Karnataka Congress MLAs loyal to Shivakumar met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday as the Siddaramaiah government completed two and a half years in office
BJP MP Jagadish Shettar claimed that the Congress government in Karnataka might collapse soon. (PTI File)
The issue of leadership change in Karnataka has once again rocked the Congress party, which is reeling from a crushing defeat in the Bihar assembly elections.
A group of Karnataka Congress MLAs loyal to Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday as the Siddaramaiah government completed two and a half years in office.
Siddaramaiah has reiterated that the decision on the leadership change will only be taken by the Congress high command, apparently referring to Kharge and the Gandhis.
“Whatever the high command decides, both must listen — and so must D. K. Shivakumar. Everyone should follow what the high command says. I will go ahead and present the budget. Kharge is coming to Bengaluru; I will speak to him. Has the high command said anything till now?” he asked.
Siddaramaiah has dismissed any talks of a change of guard in Karnataka and said only the cabinet reshuffle is on the cards. “Only after it was said that the cabinet can be reshuffled after two and a half years, the issue of changing the Chief Minister has come to the fore. The party leaders need to take a decision on the cabinet reshuffle. There are a total of 34 ministerial posts, out of which two posts are vacant. These vacant ministerial positions will be filled during the cabinet reshuffle,” he said.
Siddaramaiah Dials Kharge
Siddaramaiah spoke with Kharge on Friday morning about the image of the Congress party and how the government is getting hurt by the frequent talk of leadership change in the state, top Congress sources said.
Kharge assured Siddaramaiah that he would assess the situation and sort it out.
Siddaramaiah will also meet Kharge on Saturday in Mysuru.
Shivakumar Loyalists Camp In Delhi
MLAs loyal to Shivakumar — Gubbi MLA Srinivas, Sringeri MLA T D Rajegowda, Kunigal MLA H. D. Ranganath, Anekal MLA B. Shivanna, Kudachi MLA Mahendra Kallappa Tammannavar, Hoskote MLA Sharat Bachhe Gowda, Nelamangala MLA N. Srinivas, Mandya MLA Ravikumar Gowda, and a couple of MLCs, are currently in Delhi. They met Kharge on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Congress MLAs G S Patil and party leader Malikayya Guttedar met Shivakumar at his residence in Bengaluru.
DK Shivakumar’s Cryptic Post Amid Power Tussle
Hours after his loyalists met Kharge, Shivakumar posted a cryptic message on the microblogging site X.
“Where there is effort, there is fruit; where there is devotion, there is the Lord,” a rough translation of Shivakumar’s post in Kannada suggested.
What The BJP Said?
Karnataka Deputy Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad said Siddaramaiah wanted to push forward Satish Jarkiholi and G Parameshwara against DK Shivakumar to ensure his own position remains secure.
Bellad claimed that Kharge is also eyeing the Karnataka CM post.
“But now Mallikarjun Kharge is also in the field because he has served the Congress party for years…He knows that Congress is not going to come to power in the Centre, so he wants to be the CM. One thing is certain that Siddaramaiah will lose his post,” the BJP leader said.
BJP MP Jagadish Shettar claimed that the Congress government in Karnataka might collapse soon.
“The infighting in the Congress party and government in Karnataka is very serious. I think there was an agreement between the CM and DCM… and now CM Siddaramaiah is violating that agreement. Some MLAs from the DK (Shivakumar) went to Delhi and met the (Congress) high command. The Karnataka government may collapse any day. Congress is losing its existence; it lost the Bihar elections very miserably. There is no national leadership or national image of the Congress party,” he said.
How Karnataka Leadership Tussle In Congress Started?
After registering a landslide victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2023, the Congress high command found itself in a dilemma over who to pick as chief minister — veteran Siddaramaiah or D. K. Shivakumar. The discussions went on for several days before Siddaramaiah took oath as the chief minister and Shivakumar was sworn in as deputy chief minister.
However, reports at the time claimed that the Congress had proposed a rotational chief minister formula to pacify Shivakumar, with Siddaramaiah agreeing to hand over the post after 2.5 years.
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
November 21, 2025, 14:16 IST
Read More
