CM post not vacant: Sidda digs in heels after DK meets Priyanka
Siddaramaiah’s remarks came a day after his rival in the intra-party leadership race — deputy CM DK Shivakumar — met Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the capital. Hoping to meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a counter move, Siddaramaiah today said he would complete five years as Karnataka CM.
“Is there any vacancy for chief ministership? I am very much here in front of you. I am the Chief Minister of Karnataka. That is what DK Shivakumar has also said, and that is what I am saying. There is no vacancy," Siddaramaiah, 76, said rejecting speculation of rotational CM-ship in the state.
Shivakumar has also ruled out any Cabinet reshuffle in the state linking his Delhi visit with governance issues and related meetings with central ministers. Both warring Karnataka Congress stalwarts had arrived in Delhi on Wednesday to meet with top party brass with the insiders tight lipped about behind the scene developments.
An AICC source, meanwhile, acknowledged that for the party high command — Gandhis — it was a tightrope walk given Karnataka unit chief Shivakumar’s and his loyalists’ ambitions for CM-ship.
Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, today said any MLA could have ambitions but the CM’s post was taken. For the Congress, the developments in Karnataka are a rerun of events in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which saw power struggles in 2018 after the appointed CMs completed half their terms.
Pressure was similarly built on then Chhattisgarh CM to cede the space for TS Singhdeo; then Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath to allow Jyotiraditya Scindia to step in and then Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to accommodate Sachin Pilot.
None of the appointees budged. The result — Scindia left the Congress in 2020 and joined the BJP; Singhdeo and Baghel continued with their public show of unity while sparring within and Pilot reconciled to fate after attempting a failed coup in 2020.
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