Karnataka power tussle Live: DK Shivakumar to meet Siddaramaiah for breakfast amid CM change buzz

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar.

Similar developments took place in 2025 too, when Siddaramaiah completed 2.5 years as CM, triggering buzz of leadership change. Back then, sources had told HT that the chief minister urged Shivakumar to take over the top post after the next Assembly elections in the state in 2028.

The Tuesday meeting in New Delhi was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal and AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, among others.

The party said discussions were on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections and polls in the Karnataka legislative council. Siddaramaiah, too, denied reports that discussions had taken place on changing the CM, people aware of the matter said.

The party top brass including Gandhi and Kharge held several hours of discussions with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, apart from meeting them separately, and is likely to take a call on a possible change of guard in the state after the Rajya Sabha polls, which are due next month, PTI reported citing sources.

Will Siddaramiah be replaced?

People cited above said Kharge told Siddaramaiah that the latter needed to step down and make way for a new leadership. However, the 77-year-old leader refused to acquiesce immediately and instead asked for two days to decide. The people cited above also said that Siddaramaiah was reluctant to hand over duties to Shivakumar but was told by Kharge that the choice of successor was not his.

Siddaramaiah might also be presented with a formula where he steps aside in return for a Rajya Sabha seat and a possible cabinet position for his son Yathindra — a member of the state legislative council — in return.

After the Congress won its biggest victory in a generation in Karnataka in 2023, the government has been mired in tensions over the top post. Siddaramaiah, a two-time chief minister who built a grassroots coalition of backwards, Dalits and Muslims that propelled the Congress a rare victory against the Bharatiya Janata Party, had agreed to a power swap halfway through the five-year tenure but has till now blocked Shivakumar, the party’s main troubleshooter and poll financier, said the people cited above.

Shivakumar to be left waiting again?

People familiar with the matter have told HT that even if Congress manages to convince Siddaramaiah to take the Rajya Sabha route, he may not be willing to see Shivakumar succeed him.

In that case, Congress might offer Mallikarjun Kharge as a compromise candidate as CM, also clearing the way for Rahul Gandhi to push KC Venugopal as the next party chief and open up the central party organisation to a much-needed overhaul.