A changing of the guard in the three-year-old Karnataka government appears imminent with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking governorship, a day after he was apparently asked by the party high command to make way for the elevation of his deputy DK Shivakumar to the top post, but he chose to speak on the issue on Thursday.
On the day he is likely to meet Governor Tharchand Gehlot, apparently to tender his resignation, the 77-year-old veteran governor on Thursday will also host his cabinet colleagues, including Shivakumar, for breakfast.
With the political heat rising in the southern state in anticipation of a new chief minister, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala clarified that the Congress has not called a meeting of its legislative party in the state and that no further decision has been taken yet. He asked the media not to speculate on the matter.
The legislative party chooses its leader, who is the obvious choice for the prime minister.
Surjewala, who arrived here on Wednesday, also met Siddaramaiah and other senior leaders.
Intense speculation is that Siddaramaiah will announce to step down as chief minister, most likely on Thursday, to make way for Shivakumar.
This development comes after the Congress high command asked Siddaramaiah to make way for a change in leadership in the state and offered him a central role in the party in the Rajya Sabha seat. According to reports, Siddaramaiah did not accept the central role immediately.
Some sources suggest that Siddaramaiah may have decided to step down because the message came directly from party supremo Rahul Gandhi. The Prime Minister has repeatedly stated that he will step down if the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha asks him to do so.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were summoned to Delhi on Tuesday by the party, where there were back-to-back meetings at the Congress headquarters in which Rahul Gandhi, AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and party general secretaries KC Venugopal and Surjewala participated.
Adding to the suspense, 77-year-old Siddaramaiah refused to comment on the raging speculation on Wednesday and said he would speak about the matter the next day.
Senior Congress MLA and Administrative Reforms Committee chairman RV Deshpande claimed that Siddaramaiah told him that he had decided to resign.
The former minister, who met the Prime Minister at his residence, said that when some MLAs insisted on not resigning, Siddaramaiah responded that he had given his word to the high command and would respect it.
Read also | ‘Push’ Siddaramaiah to step down amid Congress meeting in Delhi, weighing options
According to the sources, a number of ministers and representatives met Siddaramaiah at his residence and held discussions with him.
They insisted that he should not resign and said they would discuss the matter with the party high command.
According to reports, some suggested discussing the matter in a legislative party meeting, but Siddaramaiah did not respond positively to any of these suggestions.
Home Minister G Parameshwara, whose name has sporadically cropped up in the context of the CM race, remained tight-lipped about Siddaramaiah’s meeting with the Congress high command in Delhi, saying no one knows what was discussed. He also downplayed the hype around its potential rise. He said that everyone must abide by the party’s decision.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Federation of Backward Caste Communities has warned the Congress and its top leadership that the party will face consequences if Siddaramaiah is replaced.
Asserting that the Congress came to power because of the support of the backward caste and Ahinda (Kannada abbreviation for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) communities, the union leaders said there was no other leader of Siddaramaiah’s stature in the Congress party, and warned of agitation if he was forced to step down.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar’s camp was jubilant and his supporters celebrated in many parts of the state, including Bengaluru and Ramanagara, amid reports that their leader is set to become the next chief minister. Siddaramaiah’s supporters gathered outside his official residence to protest amid intense speculation that he might step down.
Shivakumar, who is in Delhi, was initially scheduled to return to Bengaluru this afternoon. As per his revised travel plan, he will leave the national capital early on Thursday and will attend the breakfast meeting at the Prime Minister’s official residence here.
Amid the resignation uproar, Siddaramaiah on Wednesday visited Vidhana Soudha and presented flowers to the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru there on his death anniversary. Later in the evening, he received the BC Karnataka State Commission’s ‘Socio-Economic and Educational Survey’ report, commonly known as the ‘Caste Census Report’, one of the key initiatives of his government.
According to official sources, some of his office and secretariat staff gave the Prime Minister an emotional reception at Vidhana Soudha, and the scene looked like his last day in office.
Meanwhile, BJP state president BJ Vijayendra slammed the ruling party and claimed that it is a possible “decision” of the Congress high command to replace Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after concluding that the state government “failed” to provide good governance during the last three years.
He also expected that midterm assembly elections would be held in the state regardless of who becomes the next prime minister.
The leadership struggle intensified within the ruling party amid speculation about a possible change of prime minister after the Congress government completed the halfway point of its five-year term on November 20, 2025.
There was a tough competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who is also the party president in the state, for the prestigious chief minister’s post after the Congress party won the Assembly elections in May 2023. The party then managed to convince Shivakumar and make him deputy chief minister.
There were reports at the time that a compromise had been reached on the basis of a ‘rotational chief minister formula’, under which Shivakumar would become chief minister after two-and-a-half years, but it was not officially confirmed by the party.
