Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 28: Refusing to move out of the state politics, Siddaramaiah after resigning as the chief minister of Karnataka said he had declined an offer of the Congress high command to become a member of the Rajya Sabha and that he would continue to serve the state as an ordinary MLA.
Mr Siddaramaiah on Thursday resigned from his post as Karnataka Chief Minister after days of turbulence in the state’s political landscape. Accompanied by his erstwhile deputy DK Shivakumar, who is expected to take over the mantle of the state from him, Siddaramaiah submitted his resignation to Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot’s secretary at the Raj Bhavan, as the latter was not in Bengaluru.
The development came just hours after Siddaramaiah held a breakfast meeting with cabinet colleagues, during which he informed them of his decision to step down from the position.
Addressing a press conference after his resignation, Siddaramaiah said that the party high command had asked him to step down and that the interests of the state were of utmost importance to him. He added that he had also offered to resign on several occasions before. Siddaramaiah also said he was offered a Rajya Sabha berth but he refused to accept saying he was chosen for five years by the people of Karnataka and would keep serving them while staying in the state.
“I have submitted my resignation to the Governor’s Office. The Governor is not here; he is returning tonight. So, I submitted the resignation to his office. I have kept my word and resigned (as Chief Minister) when the High Command asked me to do so,” Siddaramaiah said. “I got the opportunity to serve people of Karnataka twice, I thank Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge,” he added.
Karnataka Governor’s Special Secretary Prabhu Shankar said he has received Siddaramaiah’s resignation but only the Governor was entitled to accept it. “I have received the resignation of Siddaramaiah (as the CM), but only the Governor can accept it after he returns,” he said.
On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were called to Delhi by the Congress leadership for a series of discussions held at the party headquarters. The meetings were attended by Rahul Gandhi, AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior party leaders K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala.
According to reports, the party leadership urged Siddaramaiah to step aside to facilitate a change in Karnataka’s leadership. In return, he was said to have been offered a role at the national level along with a possible Rajya Sabha nomination.
But Siddaramaiah made it clear that he was not interested in a national role. Instead, he said, he would continue in the state politics as an MLA — a decision the party’s central leadership may not have expected. “The Congress high command proposed DKS as the next chief minister… I have agreed to this,” Siddaramaiah said. “The high command told me to ‘Go Rajya Sabha’ but I have said ‘no’ to it. I have no interest in national politics. I will be in active politics in the state,” he said.
Over the last year, Siddaramaiah dug in his heels in the top post despite Team Shivakumar’s best efforts to dislodge him. The party’s central leadership had not pushed the matter, especially in view of the pending elections in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where Siddaramaiah’s ahinda vote bank – minority communities, backward classes, and Dalits — was expected to play a role.
But now, with Tamil Nadu and Kerala under its belt, the Congress was ready to move. The push came from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as well as Sonia Gandhi, amid concerns about Siddaramaiah’s age and declining standard of governance, which was seen as sparking anti-incumbency.
For Siddaramaiah, the marching orders came from Rahul Gandhi at a 35-minute tete-e-tete with Siddaramaiah on Tuesday. “Look beyond Karnataka,” was the clear message from Gandhi, packaged with an offer for one the state’s three Rajya Sabha seats which would be up for election soon.
Any decision must now be made with the 2028 assembly election and the 2029 Lok Sabha election in mind, sources had quoted Gandhi as telling the two-time Chief Minister.