Karnataka Congress Meeting: What clarification has Congress given on the speculations of changing the Chief Minister in Karnataka? What issues were discussed in the Congress meeting held in Delhi? Why is there talk of power sharing between DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah?
A question was continuously discussed in Karnataka politics for the last several days, is there going to be a change of Chief Minister in the state? Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Amid speculations regarding power sharing between Shivkumar, the Congress leadership has now tried to clarify the situation. After the important meeting held in Delhi, Congress General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP K. C. Venugopal said that no issue like change of Chief Minister or transfer of power was discussed in the meeting. He clearly said that whatever speculations are being made are completely baseless.
What happened in the high level meeting held in Delhi?
A big meeting regarding Karnataka was held in Delhi in the presence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar and KC Venugopal also attended this meeting. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Venugopal said that the focus of discussion remained only on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections and Legislative Council (MLC) elections. He said that the names of the candidates have been considered in detail and will be announced soon.
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“There was no discussion on changing the CM”
Venugopal directly rejected the media reports and said that there was no discussion regarding the post of Chief Minister or change of power in today’s meeting. He said that the main objective of the meeting was to decide the party’s strategy on the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council seats of Karnataka. The Congress leader also said that the candidates from Karnataka will be announced simultaneously with the candidates from other states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.
Why do discussions about power sharing keep arising?
In fact, since the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, discussions regarding power sharing within the Congress have been coming up from time to time. It has been discussed for a long time in political circles that some kind of formula was decided between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar regarding the post of Chief Minister.
It is believed that after the elections there was a strong competition between the two leaders for the post of Chief Minister. At that time the party leadership had tried to strike a balance by making Siddaramaiah the Chief Minister and DK Shivakumar the Deputy Chief Minister. However, Congress never officially accepted that any formula of two and a half years was decided.
Speculation continued to increase due to DK Shivkumar’s statement
DK Shivakumar has indicated several times in public forums that he hopes to get the post of Chief Minister in the future. This is the reason why whenever there is a meeting of Karnataka leadership in Delhi, speculation about change of Chief Minister increases. However, this time the Congress leadership has clearly tried to convey the message that at present the party’s entire focus is on election strategy and organizational strength.
Congress eyes Rajya Sabha elections
The upcoming Rajya Sabha elections are considered very important politically for the Congress. The party wants to maintain its strong position in South India and Karnataka plays an important role in this. For this reason, candidate selection and political equations were discussed in detail in the Delhi meeting. The party leadership wants that no news of any kind of internal conflict should go out before the elections.
Suspense continues for now
Congress may have rejected the news of change of Chief Minister, but this issue does not seem to be completely over in Karnataka politics. If any statement regarding power sharing comes out in the coming months, then this discussion may intensify once again. At present, the clear message from the party leadership is that the government is stable and no change has been discussed regarding the post of Chief Minister.
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