Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar will be called to Delhi when necessary, says Kharge on leadership issue

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said the party would call Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dy CM DK Shivakumar to Delhi when necessary for discussions, indicating that the issue of a leadership change in Karnataka was open-ended.

"Whenever necessary, the party would call them," the AICC president said in response to a media query in Bengaluru on the leadership issue. His comment comes on the back of Siddaramaiah expressing confidence of completing his full five-year, last week in an assertion that came amid speculation of a mid-term change in leadership.

Kharge’s comment aligned with a similar comment by Shivakumar, last month, that the Congress high command has shared a message with him and Siddaramaiah on power- sharing and both will go to Delhi when called. “I will travel with the CM when the high command calls us,” the Dy CM had said. Shivakumar’s comments came soon after Siddaramaiah dismissed the existence of any power-sharing deal in the assembly, last month.Last week, Siddaramaiah broke D Devaraj Urs’ record to become the longest serving CM of Karnataka. The 78-year-old Mysuru-born leader is serving as CM for a second time, after he assumed charge for the first time from 2013.


Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have not been commenting much in public on the leadership issue after their breakfast meeting in November where they pledged to work together.

Shivakumar had dropped broad hints earlier staking his claim to the CM’s post as Siddaramaiah approached his half-term as CM in November last year. He also spoke of a “secret” (deal) five-six top leaders were privy to ahead of Siddaramaiah’s swearing-in as CM in May 2023.