Karnataka Congress Leaders Told To Stay Quiet On CM Buzz As Loyalists Rally Around DK | Top Points

Last Updated:November 21, 2025, 15:38 IST

A group of Karnataka Congress MLAs loyal to Shivakumar met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday as the Siddaramaiah government completed two and a half years in office

BJP MP Jagadish Shettar claimed that the Congress government in Karnataka might collapse soon. (PTI File)

The issue of leadership change in Karnataka has once again rocked the Congress party, which is reeling from a crushing defeat in the Bihar assembly elections.

A group of Karnataka Congress MLAs loyal to Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday as the Siddaramaiah government completed two and a half years in office.

Siddaramaiah has reiterated that the decision on the leadership change will only be taken by the Congress high command, apparently referring to Kharge and the Gandhis.

“Whatever the high command decides, both must listen — and so must D. K. Shivakumar. Everyone should follow what the high command says. I will go ahead and present the budget. Kharge is coming to Bengaluru; I will speak to him. Has the high command said anything till now?" he asked.

Siddaramaiah has dismissed any talks of a change of guard in Karnataka and said only the cabinet reshuffle is on the cards. “Only after it was said that the cabinet can be reshuffled after two and a half years, the issue of changing the Chief Minister has come to the fore. The party leaders need to take a decision on the cabinet reshuffle. There are a total of 34 ministerial posts, out of which two posts are vacant. These vacant ministerial positions will be filled during the cabinet reshuffle," he said.

Karnataka Congress Leaders Asked Not To Comment On Leadership Issue

Meanwhile, Randeep Singh Surjewala, MP and General Secretary, in charge of Karnataka, dismissed buzz around leadership change as part of the BJP’s

said he held discussions with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in which they agreed that “BJP is running a maligning campaign" against Karnataka and its Congress government.

He also warned Congress leaders and MLAs from making “any public statements on the issue of leadership or falling for the agenda being propagated by the vested interests".

Siddaramaiah Dials Kharge

Siddaramaiah spoke with Kharge on Friday morning about the image of the Congress party and how the government is getting hurt by the frequent talk of leadership change in the state, top Congress sources said.

Kharge assured Siddaramaiah that he would assess the situation and sort it out.

Siddaramaiah will also meet Kharge on Saturday in Mysuru.

Shivakumar Loyalists Camp In Delhi

MLAs loyal to Shivakumar — Gubbi MLA Srinivas, Sringeri MLA T D Rajegowda, Kunigal MLA H. D. Ranganath, Anekal MLA B. Shivanna, Kudachi MLA Mahendra Kallappa Tammannavar, Hoskote MLA Sharat Bachhe Gowda, Nelamangala MLA N. Srinivas, Mandya MLA Ravikumar Gowda, and a couple of MLCs, are currently in Delhi. They met Kharge on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Congress MLAs G S Patil and party leader Malikayya Guttedar met Shivakumar at his residence in Bengaluru.

Shivakumar said some MLAs met Kharge voluntarily in a bid to become ministers in the cabinet reshuffle. “Making a group is not in my blood. All 140 MLAs are my MLAs. CM decided that he would reshuffle the government and the cabinet. So, all of them are interested in becoming ministers. It is natural that they will go and meet the leaders in Delhi. Apart from that, what can I say? They have every right. I have not taken anyone. Some of them went and met Kharge sahab. They met the CM also. What is wrong? It is their life. No one has called them; they are voluntarily going and showing their faces. They wanted to show their presence that they are in the forefront, can work, and they want responsibility," he said.

DK Shivakumar’s Cryptic Post Amid Power Tussle

Hours after his loyalists met Kharge, Shivakumar posted a cryptic message on the microblogging site X.

“Where there is effort, there is fruit; where there is devotion, there is the Lord," a rough translation of Shivakumar’s post in Kannada suggested.

What The BJP Said? 

Karnataka Deputy Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad said Siddaramaiah wanted to push forward Satish Jarkiholi and G Parameshwara against DK Shivakumar to ensure his own position remains secure.

Bellad claimed that Kharge is also eyeing the Karnataka CM post.

“But now Mallikarjun Kharge is also in the field because he has served the Congress party for years…He knows that Congress is not going to come to power in the Centre, so he wants to be the CM. One thing is certain that Siddaramaiah will lose his post," the BJP leader said.

BJP MP Jagadish Shettar claimed that the Congress government in Karnataka might collapse soon.

“The infighting in the Congress party and government in Karnataka is very serious. I think there was an agreement between the CM and DCM… and now CM Siddaramaiah is violating that agreement. Some MLAs from the DK (Shivakumar) went to Delhi and met the (Congress) high command. The Karnataka government may collapse any day. Congress is losing its existence; it lost the Bihar elections very miserably. There is no national leadership or national image of the Congress party," he said.

How Karnataka Leadership Tussle In Congress Started?

After registering a landslide victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2023, the Congress high command found itself in a dilemma over who to pick as chief minister — veteran Siddaramaiah or D. K. Shivakumar. The discussions went on for several days before Siddaramaiah took oath as the chief minister and Shivakumar was sworn in as deputy chief minister.

However, reports at the time claimed that the Congress had proposed a rotational chief minister formula to pacify Shivakumar, with Siddaramaiah agreeing to hand over the post after 2.5 years.

News politics Karnataka Congress Leaders Told To Stay Quiet On CM Buzz As Loyalists Rally Around DK | Top Points

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