The remark came a day after Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said he does not view the Chief Minister’s post as important, adding that bringing the party back to power in the southern state was crucial for him.
Karnataka Congress power tussle: Kharge suggests resolution soon (Photo: IANS)
Amid the ongoing reported power tussle in Karnataka between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said the issue will be discussed by the party high command. Kharge added that when he mentions the high command, he means a team that will deliberate on the issue and take a decision.
Asked this morning by reporters to comment on the reported rift and his earlier remarks on the issue being with the high command, the senior Congress leader said: “When I said the issue will be decided by ‘high command’, it implied that it will be discussed by the team. There is a team of people… the team will sit, discuss and then take any decision.”
Advertisement
Kharge further said that he will convene a meeting of senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in New Delhi to discuss the raging issue. He assured that the way forward will be decided and the issue settled. The “confusion” will be brought to an end, he said further.
Advertisement
“After going to Delhi, I will call three to four important leaders and discuss. After the discussion, we will say how to go ahead; thereby put an end to the confusion,” Kharge told reporters in Bengaluru.
The remark came a day after Shivakumar said he does not view the Chief Minister’s post as important, adding that bringing the party back to power in the southern state was crucial for him.
“The Chief Minister’s post or any high office is not important. Working together with everyone in the party and bringing the party back to power in the state is what matters,” Shivakumar said.
He added that a right decision will be taken by the party at an appropriate time. The Deputy CM further stated that discussions on the reported power-sharing agreement are confined within the four walls.
Shivakumar also asserted that collective leadership is what he believes in, adding that there is only party worship in Congress, no personality worship. There is only one faction – the ‘Congress faction’, he said, seeking to quash rumours of any internal rift and split within the party ranks in Karnataka.
Shivakumar further stressed that the Congress has stood by him in difficult times, adding: “I am a staunch Congressman.”
Regarding his meeting with senior party leader and PWD minister Satish Jarkiholi, DKS said: “I alone did not work for this victory. Under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge, under Rahul Gandhi, under Siddaramaiah, and through the efforts of all MLAs, we brought the party to power. We must preserve this. That is why Satish Jarkiholi and I met and spoke.”
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had earlier said amid the ongoing reported power struggle that he does not plan to meet senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, while stating that the high command was bound to take a decision to bring an end to speculation in the matter.
At the heart of the power struggle in Karnataka is the reported ‘2.5 year formula’. When the Congress party won the 2023 Karnataka Assembly Elections, it was reported that Siddaramaiah has been made the CM under a formula, as part of which he will lead the government for two and a half years and DK Shivakumar would take over the post for the remaining term.
That formula has never been acknowledged by Congress officially and has only been unofficially reported.
The Congress government completed 2.5 years or 30 months in Karnataka on November 20.
Advertisement
