Crisis in Karnataka Congress? Ministers and MLAs loyal to Shivakumar fly to Delhi

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah (right) with his deputy DK Shivakumar (left) in Bengaluru.

The internal bickering within Karnataka Congress has once again come to the forefront with several Karnataka ministers and MLAs, loyal to deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, heading to New Delhi.

These leaders are expected to meet the top Congress brass amid the ongoing power tussle in the state. Notably, their action comes a day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah completed 2.5 years in the office.

The group, reportedly, is scheduled to meet Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge this evening to formally present their demand. A meeting with AICC general secretary KC Venugopal is lined up for tomorrow morning.

Those who travelled today include Dinesh Gooligowda, Ravi Ganiga and Gubbi Vasu. More leaders, Anekal Shivanna, Nelamangala Srinivas, Iqbal Hussain, Kunigal Ranganath, Shivaganga Basavaraju and Balakrishna, are set to arrive tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, DK Suresh, brother of DK Shivakumar and former Lok Sabha MP for Bangalore Rural, said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah "will keep his word", a remark interpreted as a nudge toward implementing the power-sharing deal.

Post the outcome of assembly election in May, 2023, there was intense parleys between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the chief ministerial post. The Congress eventually persuaded Shivakumar to step aside and take on the role of Deputy Chief Minister.

At the time, some reports suggested the two leaders had agreed to a compromise involving a "rotational chief minister formula," under which Shivakumar would take over after two-and-a-half years. However, the Congress has never formally confirmed this arrangement.