No Change of Leadership in Karnataka, High Command has Send Clear Signals: Yathindra
NEW DELHI, Feb 6: The Congress high command is claimed to have given a clear signal that there will be no change in the leadership in Karnataka and the incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah will remain at the helm for full five years to complete his term.
The claim was made on Friday by the Congress MLC and the son of the chief minister Yathindra causing fresh ripples in the political circles in the state. Sources in the deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar camp mocked at the claim that the high command had send any such final signal.
The speculations about the leadership change in the state stem from a reported claim from the Shivakumar camp that an understanding was reached in the presence of the high command leaders at the time of the formation of the Congress ministry after the Assembly elections in 2023 that Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar would share the chief minister’s post two and half years each.
Speculation over a possible change intensified after the Congress government completed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, 2025. Shivakumar on Thursday said he was confident that the party high command would call him to New Delhi whenever it takes a political decision on the leadership issue.
Mr Yathindra told media persons in Mysuru on Friday that the Congress high command had sent a clear signal that there would be no change of leadership in the State. “The high command has sent a clear signal that there will not be a change of leadership in Karnataka even if it has not explicitly said so. I believe he (Siddaramaiah) will remain the Chief Minister for the full five year term,” Mr Yathindra said.
Mr Yathindra said there was no discussion about leadership change in political circles. The matter may be discussed only in the media, he said before adding that Mr Siddaramaiah’s continuation as Chief Minister was a ‘settled issue.’ “Nobody is discussing it. It feels like only the media is discussing it. As far as I know, no one in political circles is talking about it. That issue is settled now,” he said.
Responding to remarks by party leader Satish Jarkiholi that the issue should be sorted out, Yathindra said there was no confusion. “According to me, there is no confusion. If someone feels there is confusion, you should ask him,” he said.
He reiterated that the party leadership has conveyed its position, even if not publicly. “According to me, the high command has clearly given a signal. They may not have said it openly, but they have clearly signalled that there will be no leadership change for now. So I believe Siddaramaiah will be the Chief Minister for five years,” he said.
Elaborating, Mr Yathindra said there were no demands for removal of Mr Siddaramaiah from the post. The Congress high command has not given weightage to the demand for his replacement. “So, he will remain the Chief Minister for the full five-year term,” he said while adding that there was no confusion in the party about the matter.
Rejecting claims of internal dissent, Yathindra said no serious demand for a leadership change has been entertained by the party leadership. “As of now, no one has said that Siddaramaiah should be removed or that he will be removed. Even if some demands were made to the high command, they were not given any importance. So according to me, he will remain the Chief Minister for five years,” he said.
Mr Yathindra said there were other issues in the State that were begging for attention, and cited the upcoming budget. He said issues like financial situation of the State, like insufficient revenue inflow and the denial of Central allocations, need attention.
“There are other issues in the state that need attention. The budget is coming up. The financial situation also needs focus because revenue is not coming in like before and the central government is not releasing the funds it has to give. So we need to pay more attention to that,” he said.
To a question on the charge that his involvement in the Energy Department had upset Energy Minister K. J. George, Mr Yathindra said, “Mr George had issued a clarification in the matter.” Claiming that his name had been unnecessarily dragged into the issue, Mr Yathindra said the opposition was dragging his name into the matter as they did not have any issue against the Chief Minister or the government.
Yathindra also commented on the MUDA site allotment case involving the chief minister and his wife B M Parvathi, saying the truth had prevailed. A special court in Bengaluru recently accepted the ‘B’ report filed by the Karnataka Lokayukta police, giving a clean chit to Siddaramaiah, Parvathi and others accused of irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority.
“Since the time when the allegations regarding the alleged MUDA scam surfaced, I have been saying that there is no scam and it is a false allegation out of political malice, and the truth that I have been saying has ultimately won,” Yathindra said.
Mr Yathindra said his mother was happy that the special court in Bengaluru had accepted the ‘B’ report. When asked if there would be any move to reclaim the MUDA sites that his mother had surrendered, Mr Yathindra said his mother had not thought about the matter yet, and pointed out that the issue was not yet over with the complainant planning to file an appeal in the High Court of Karnataka.
