'Delhi is our temple, it will always guide us', DK Shivakumkar says amid growing speculation over Karnataka leadership

DK Shivakumar

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday said he will travel to Delhi to meet the Congress high command amid growing speculation over a leadership change in the state.

He added that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will accompany him and that the party’s central leadership will take a final call on the anticipated reshuffle.

“I will definitely go to Delhi. It is our temple. Congress has a long history, and Delhi will always guide us. When they call me, party leaders and the CM, we will go there,” Shivakumar said.

Emphasising that he was not seeking any position, he added, “My community is the Congress. I may belong to one community, and they may like it, but my love is for all sections of society… I don’t want anything; my party will make the decision.”

His remarks come days after the Congress government crossed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, the point at which Shivakumar’s supporters say a leadership transition was agreed upon after the 2023 Assembly election.

Reports have also indicated that MLAs and MLCs aligned with Shivakumar have been in Delhi to urge the central leadership to elevate him to the chief minister’s post.

Shivakumar added fuel to the speculation by acknowledging, for the first time, that “a confidential understanding on leadership transition among five-six leaders” had been reached soon after the party’s landslide victory last year. “This is confidential. I don’t want to speak publicly on this,” he said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, however, sought to downplay the internal churn, stressing that the matter would be handled collectively by the party’s top leadership. “Only the people there can say what the government is doing. But I would like to say that we will resolve such issues,” Kharge said. “People in the high command — Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and I — will sit together and deliberate on this… We will give the medicine when required,” he added.

The fresh round of statements follows last week’s renewed flare-up between the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar camps. The dispute intensified on Friday, after Shivakumar cited Sonia Gandhi’s 2004 decision to step aside for Manmohan Singh.

Shivakumar’s supporters maintain that a 2.5-year rotational formula was agreed upon after both leaders staked claim to the top post in 2023. With the midpoint now passed and no sign of Siddaramaiah stepping down, the faction has increased pressure on the party to enforce what they call a binding commitment.