Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar met again over breakfast on Tuesday, December 2, at the latter’s residence. Previously, a similar meeting was held on November 29 at the CM’s official residence, Cauvery, in Bengaluru. Shivakumar’s brother and ex-MP DK Suresh was also present at the breakfast meeting.
Before attending the meeting, DK Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress party president, said that both leaders are “working as a team.”
Addressing the media after breakfast, Siddaramaiah said, “We (DK Shivakumar) are brothers, we are with the same party, we come from the same ideology. We will work together for the 2028 elections, also,” he said.
On being questioned when Shivakumar would be CM, Siddaramaiah shot back, “Whenever the high command says so.”
Both leaders also shot down any differences. While Shivakumar denied there were any differences and said it was fabricated by the media, Siddaramaiah said that expressing an opinion did not amount to differences and that all the Congress MLAs were united and they would face the opposition together.
The leaders are expected to travel to Delhi on December 8, the day the winter session begins in Belagavi. Both leaders said it would be a day trip.
On the cabinet reshuffle, Siddaramaiah said that all the MLAs were qualified to be ministers, but only around 15% could actually hold the posts. The Congress is also expected to finalise the names for the posts of four MLCs, according to Shivakumar.
Following the breakfast meeting, the Deputy CM shared on X that they discussed the development of Karnataka under the Congress government.
“Hosted the Hon’ble CM for breakfast at my residence today as we reaffirm our commitment to good governance and the continued development of our state under the Congress vision,” he wrote.
While the leaders publicly maintain that the meetings are about governance, it is widely speculated that the two leaders have been at odds over the Chief Minister’s post. According to reports, they had agreed to share the position for 2.5 years each. After the Congress victory in 2023, Siddaramaiah was expected to step down after completing his 2.5-year term. He completed this term on November 20. Following this, Shivakumar has been pushing for the transition.
However, Siddaramaiah has shown no intention of vacating the post so far. In a recent social media post, he asserted that the people’s mandate is for “five full years.” Shivakumar, meanwhile, posted a cryptic message saying, “Word power is world power,” adding that the biggest strength was in keeping one’s word, no matter the position.