Confusion persists as Congress leaders continue to discuss leadership issue

Days after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reiterated that he would be in the post for the full five-year term, confusion over the leadership in the Karnataka Congress seems to persist.

On Sunday, supporters of Public Works Minister Satish Jharkiholi raised slogans in Chitradurga that he would be the next Chief Minister, even as two senior Ministers continued their support to Mr. Siddaramaiah. This comes amid the Chief Minister’s camp trying to project the ‘Sadhana Samavesha’ in his home district of Mysuru on July 19, where a slew of development works will be launched, as a rally of show of strength on his home turf. The event is expected to have central leaders, apart from State leaders, in attendence.

An event to launch a series of development programmes in Mysuru on July 19 by Mr. Siddaramaiah is set to be projected as the Congress government’s ‘Sadhana Samavesha’. Minister in charge of Mysuru district H.C. Mahadevappa, who participated in a preparatory meeting in Mysuru on Saturday, held discussions with MLAs, former MLAs, chairpersons of boards and corporations, public representatives, officials, and leaders from Mysuru and adjoining Chamarajanagar districts to make the event a grand success.

Meanwhile, Industries Minister M.B. Patil told reporters on Sunday, “There is no tussle within the party. Whatever decision is taken by the high command will be applicable to all, including Mr. Siddaramaiah, D.K. Shivakumar, and me.” He added, “It is natural that Mr. Siddaramaiah said he is the Chief Minister now, and he will continue for five years. What is wrong with that?”

To a question on the claim of legislators’ support by the Chief Minister, the Minister said: “I do not know what he meant by that. In the current context, legislators’ support is for Mr. Siddaramaiah. It does not mean that legislators do not support Mr. Shivakumar. He too has the support of legislators.”

In Mangaluru, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters that Mr. Siddaramaiah had the support of all legislators, including Mr. Shivakumar’s. “He has himself clarified that he would be the Chief Minister for five years,” he said.

Speculation scoffed off

Even as the leadership issue continues to plague the party, Mr. Shivakumar, Deputy Chief Minister, clarified in a post on X that his visit to Shirdi and other places, including Delhi, was a private one, and that there need not be any politics attached to it. Sources close to him confirmed that he met the legal team to discuss his cases and no political motives need to be attributed to the visit.

Meanwhile, scoffing off the speculation over Mr. Siddaramaiah being asked to come to Delhi by the month end to discuss party matters, sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said his Delhi visit was to attend a dinner with diplomats of other countries — an event organised by IT Minister Priyank Kharge on August 1 — and attend a seminar organised by the All India Congress Committee’s legal cell on August 2. “The seminar is being inaugurated by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. Mr. Siddaramaiah will be presenting a paper on ‘Social justice: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s vision’. There is no scheduled meeting with central leaders during the visit as of now,” sources said.

It is also learnt that AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala will be arriving in Bengaluru on July 16 to continue with his meetings with legislators to elicit their opinion on party work and governance. This will be the third visit of Mr. Surjewala in as many weeks. “The Chief Minister is likely to discuss the nomination of four members to the Legislative Council with him next week.”