DK Shivakumar will 200% become next Karnataka Chief Minister: Loyalist MLA

Karnataka Congress MLA Iqbal Hussain sparked a stir within his party after he made a strong pitch for DK Shivakumar to become the next Chief Minister of Karnataka.

“He will definitely become Chief Minister, 200%. I swear on God Mahadevappa,” Hussain said, adding that the Congress would win more than 140 seats in the next election and form the government under Shivakumar’s leadership.

But Congress MLC Nagaraj Yadav struck a different note. He questioned the timing and authority of Hussain’s statement.

“What do you mean next time? The Chief Minister now is Siddaramaiah. No one knows what the high command will decide. DK Shivakumar has contributed a lot, but so has Siddaramaiah,” Yadav said.

He also questioned the authority behind such statements. “Is Iqbal the deciding authority? Is Nagaraj a deciding authority?” he said.

The MLC added that only the party leadership can decide on the next Chief Minister and hoped Congress would return to power in 2028 to defeat “communal forces.”

Reacting to the change in leadership talk, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Chalavadi Narayanswamy of the BJP, said: “These are their party matters. I don’t want to interfere. But no one knows how long this government will last. Even if they change the leader, it’s still a corrupt government and a corrupt leadership. We can’t expect anything from them.”

This latest leadership talk comes at a time when signs of infighting are already visible within the Congress. In a leaked audio, senior MLA BR Patil accused the Housing Department of ignoring elected representatives' recommendations and allotting houses under the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation only to those who paid bribes.

Karnataka Congress MLC Belur Gopalkrishna called for the resignation of Housing Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan after allegations of irregularities in the Housing Board.

Meanwhile, Kagwad MLA Raju Kage slammed his own government and has threatened to resign, alleging that despite a Rs 25 crore grant sanctioned by the Chief Minister two years ago, not a single work order has been issued. “Why does it take two years just to begin the work?” he asked at a public meeting in Ainapur, Belagavi.