DKS' late-night dinner meet with MLAs as power tussle continues to haunt K'taka Congress

New Delhi: While Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy Shivakumar are trying to put up a united face, it appears all is not well between the two senior leaders. Shivakumar met over 30 Congress legislators, including some ministers, over a dinner late on Thursday night, sparking a buzz in political circles.

Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah recently met over breakfast twice amid the reports of a power tussle in the state and ruled out any rift between them over chief ministerial post.

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Shivakumar's dinner meet with over 30 MLAs, ministers

The Thursday dinner meeting at Shivakumar's residence was attended by Ministers KH Muniyappa, Mankal Vaidya, Dr MC Sudhakar, MLAs NA Haris, Ramesh Bandisiddegowda, H C Balakrishna, Ganesh Hukkeri, Darshan Dhruvanarayana, Ashok Kumar Rai, KY Nanjegowda, sources said. Expelled BJP MLAs ST Somashekhar and Shivaram Hebbar were also present, they said, PTI reported.

Shivakumar's meeting with his supporters came a day after Siddaramaiah held a similar dinner meeting with some ministers and a few legislators considered close to him. The dinner was hosted by former Belagavi North MLA Feroz Sait.

Leadership tussle in Karnataka Congress

Though leaders term it a casual dinner meeting, speculation is rife as it came amid a leadership tussle in the ruling party over the Chief Minister post. There were speculations that Siddaramaiah would hand over the CM duty to his deputy Shivakumar after the Congress-led Karnataka government completed half of its five-year term on November 20. Some reports claimed that the Congress in Karnataka had reached a 'rotational CM' agreement after its victory in the 2023 state polls.

As the Congress government completed 2.5 years, supporters and loyalists of both the CM and the Deputy CM pitched their respective demands. Amid intensified political activities in the state, both the CM and the Deputy CM met over breakfast at each other's residences last month following the instructions of the party's high command. This was seen as an attempt to downplay the reports of internal bickering in the party's state unit over the leadership tussle and to signal Siddaramaiah's continuation as the CM for the time being.