Crisis has gripped the Karnataka Congress, which is witnessing the clash of the titans — chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar — over a purported power-sharing pact that was agreed upon when the party won the 2023 Assembly polls.
Speculation is rife that the two warring leaders will be summoned by the Congress high command to New Delhi during the weekend to resolve the tussle before the Parliament session begins on December 1.
On Thursday, Shivakumar fanned the fire by sharing a cryptic post on X. “WORD POWER IS WORLD POWER. The biggest force in the world was to keep one’s word. Be it a judge, president or anyone else including myself, everyone has to walk the talk. Word power is world power,” he posted. When the post became viral, Shivakumar claimed it was “fake”.
His strong words appeared to be aimed at the Congress high command, which allegedly failed to keep its word on the power-sharing pact under which Shivakumar was told he would be made the chief minister after 2.5 years.
However, Congress sources gave a communal colour to the political tussle. While 77-year-old Siddaramaiah belongs to the Kuruba Gowda community, 63-year-old Shivakumar enjoys the strong backing of the Vokkaliga community. The Vokkaliga leadership has taken umbrage at the “injustice” meted out to Shivakumar, who had tirelessly worked for the party in the 2023 polls.
“Siddaramaiah had claimed a few days ago that he would present his 17th budget next year, thereby ruling out a change of guard. The Kuruba community is synonymous with shepherds. When he had presented his first budget, which turned out to be a damp squib, his political detractors had claimed that this Kuruba can’t even count his sheep,” a senior Karnataka Congress office-bearer told this newspaper.
Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had refused to take sides and urged Sonia Gandhi to take a call on the burgeoning crisis.