When asked about the renewed buzz over a possible leadership change in Karnataka, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had just one answer: “It is in the hands of the party high command.”
The man who heads the All India Congress Committee said, “It is in the hands of the party high command. No one can say what is going on in the high command,” implying he doesn’t know who actually constitutes the said Congress high command.
“It is left to the high command and they have the right to take further action, but no one should create problems unnecessarily,” Kharge told the media as the rumours regarding Shivakumar soon becoming the next Karnataka Chief Minister gained ground.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya seized the moment to ask the most obvious question: Who exactly is this “unseen, unheard” high command?
Taking a swipe at Kharge, Surya questioned if not the Congress president, who is this high command, who is “always felt”.
In a post on X, Surya took a sharp dig at Kharge and wrote: “The Congress High Command is like a ghost. It is unseen, unheard, but always felt. Even the Congress President, who people thought is the high command, whispers its name and says it’s not him. So eerie!”
The ‘high command’ has been the Congress’s go-to party line – ever since the party leaders have come out supporting either Siddaramaiah, or Shivakumar for the Chief Minister’s role. Earlier in February, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said something similar, in response to a question on discussions about leadership change, “It is for the high command to decide.”
In April, too, Karnataka Congress MLA Basavaraj Shivaganga, a Shivakumar loyalist, openly called for Siddaramaiah’s ouster by December. The demand highlighted the ongoing factionalism within the state’s Congress unit, despite the party high command’s diktat against public dissent.
Now, the Congress Karnataka in-change with around 100 MLAs which sources said was a damage-control exercise.