Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 28: Amidst the tussle over change of leadership in Karnataka, the deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Friday sought to end the public spat making a reference to the party stalwart Sonia Gandhi having “sacrificed power” in 2004 and claimed that he was not seeking any post and that the Congress central leadership would take a final call on the leadership issue.
He also stressed that his visit to Delhi would not be related to the leadership issue but to raise Karnataka’s concerns ahead of Parliament’s Winter Session. “I will definitely go to Delhi. It is our temple. Congress has a long history, and Delhi will always guide us,” he said, adding that he plans to meet MPs to push stalled state projects.
Responding to questions about the ongoing tussle, Shivakumar told reporters, “I don’t want anything. I am not hurrying anything. My party will make the decision. I don’t want any community angle. Congress is my community, and my love is for all sections of society,” he said.
The tug-of-war between the chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy Shivakumar, popularly known as DKS, over the chief minister’s post had flared up after some of latter’s supporters reached Delhi earlier this week to remind the party high command about the “secret deal” reportedly reached at the time of the formation of the Congress government in Karnataka in May, 2023.
As per the DKS camp, the deal was reached between the two in the presence of the high command leaders that chief minister’s post would be shared between them for two and half years each with Siddaramaiah’s holding the chair in the first half. The halfway mark was reached last week and Mr Siddaramaiah should have been prepared to step aside to make way for DKS, they maintained.
That halfway mark came and went last week with no sign of Siddaramaiah standing down or the party enforcing any ‘deal’. And, over the past week, Shivakumar and his supporters have reminded the Chief Minister and his camp, and the Congress leadership, to honour the accord.
Those reminders include another not-so-cryptic jab by DKS – about ‘word power being world power… which means that for us to keep our promise is one of the biggest powers in the world’.
Thus far Siddaramaiah has not yielded to pressure, which includes a group of DKS’ supporters turning up in Delhi to petition party boss Mallikarjun Kharge directly. He has, though, admitted to “confusion” in the ranks and called on the party’s senior leadership to “put a full stop” to it. But a direct response to DKS’ ‘word power’ jab – a post on X this morning declared “‘word’ is not ‘power’ unless it betters the world for the people…” – suggests the tension may be getting to him.
At a government event in Bengaluru on Friday, DKS spoke about the ex-Congress boss having given up the chance to become Prime Minister in 2004 after the party-led United Progressive Alliance won the Lok Sabha election. Instead she elevated Manmohan Singh, an economist par excellence who served as the Reserve Bank Governor and then Finance Minister, DKS said.
“Sonia Gandhi was Congress chief for 20 years. She also sacrificed power… (then-President of India) Abdul Kalam called her to become the next PM but she refused… suggested Manmohan Singh as someone who could develop the country,” he said.
It was not clear whether the reference to Ms Sonia Gandhi “sacrificing power” was meant for his supporters lobbying among the leadership for him or a grim reminder to the high command that he too had “sacrificed power” two and half years ago since he as the party state president was largely credited for the Congress party’s spectacular victory in the state Assembly elections and many in the party thought that he deserved the chief minister’s chair post then.
But DKS also threw in a (far) more politically correct remark into his speech, calling on the people of the state to “always remain with this Congress government led by Siddaramaiah.” He also called on the people to “bless us once again (in the 2028 election)”. The party’s southern strongman, credited with orchestrating the 2023 win, has made it a point to alternate jabs in the chief ministerial battle with exhortations to the cadre and leaders to focus on the next poll.
The Congress, meanwhile, has soft-peddled so far, refusing to comment either way. In fact, till Kharge’s “Sonia, Rahul (Gandhi) and I will fix it” comment on Wednesday, the party had not openly acknowledged a leadership problem in Karnataka. Strongman Randeep Surjewala, who brokered peace in 2023 and again in June this year, blamed the BJP for a “malicious campaign.”
The party sources said, Mr Kharge has spoken to Mr Rahul Gandhi about the Karnataka leadership crisis and cautioned him the Siddaramaiah-DKS spat needs to be settled, once and for all, by the time the Karnataka Assembly’s winter session begins on December 8. Mr Kharge, sources said, was aware of the battering a divided party could take in the House, particularly with the BJP on alert.
The Congress leadership has so far not officially confirmed the existence of any “deal” over sharing power between the two. Hours after DKS post about “word power,” Mr Siddaramaiah appeared to respond using similar language, while highlighting his ongoing work and asserting his intent to complete the full term.
“The mandate given by the people of Karnataka is not a moment, but a responsibility that lasts five full years,” the CM wrote. “A Word is not power unless it betters the World for the people. Our Word to Karnataka is not a slogan, it means the World to us.”
Referring to his previous term as CM (2013–18), he added, “157 of 165 promises were fulfilled with over 95% delivery. In this term, 243+ promises out of 593 are already completed, and every remaining promise will be fulfilled with commitment, credibility, and care.”