Karnataka CM dilemma: Siddaramaiah meets Rahul Gandhi, Shivakumar to follow suit

New Delhi: Amid suspense over the next Karnataka Chief Minister, top claimant Siddaramaiah met former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday.

Another claimant DK Shivakumar will also meet the Gandhi scion within some time. The meeting will take place at UPA chairperson and party MP Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence in Delhi.

During Shivakumar-Kharge meeting on Tuesday, party insiders said the Karnataka Congress President said the 76-year-old Siddaramaiah should make way for a new face, arguing that the Kuruba leader had enjoyed the reins of chief minister for a full five-year term, but lost the 2018 state assembly election.

Party insiders also revealed that some senior leaders opined that Siddaramaiah should not be given another term because he joined the Congress in 2006, but Shivakumar has been the party loyalist from the beginning of his political career.

The Karnataka Congress President had arrived in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon and met Kharge to present his case in the evening. Siddaramaiah also was summoned for a one-on-one meeting.

On Monday, Shivakumar had claimed the support of the majority of the 135 newly elected MLAs, after a team of AICC observers had taken the views of the MLAs individually.

Subsequently, Siddaramaiah also had separate meetings with AICC General Secretary for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala and general secretary (organisation), KC Venugopal.

The Shivakumar camp said the KPCC President should be given CM's post as he had revived the party organisation at a time when it was hit by defections and desertions.

His supporters also said Shivakumar enjoyed the backing of powerful caste groups such as the Vokkaligas and Lingayats.

However, Siddaramaiah supporters argued that he not only enjoyed the support of the majority of the newly elected MLAs, but is also responsible for Congress' mass outreach among AHINDAs, an acronym for the rainbow coalition of religious minorities, Other Backward Classes and Dalits.

Another argument that is being floated is that Shivakumar could be troubled by the central agencies to embarrass the Congress ahead of the next general election, as he has been questioned and jailed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.

The KPCC chief’s supporters, on the other hand, cite this as an example of harassment by the BJP for Shivakumar’s loyalty to the Congress.