Congress top brass holds deliberations at 10, Janpath on Karnataka issue

New Delhi, Dec 6 (PTI) Amid the ongoing power tussle in Karnataka, the Congress' top brass on Saturday deliberated over the leadership issue there, but the meeting was inconclusive and another round will be held soon.

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is learnt to have participated in the discussions at her 10, Janpath residence as the party seeks to lower the tension between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal also joined the deliberations at 10, Janpath.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Venugopal said, "We had a general discussion about the current political situation. We also discussed Karnataka, but there will be another discussion about Karnataka." "We discussed Karnataka today, but nothing came out of that. We will discuss it again... Congress is united. Karnataka Congress, also, there is unity," he said.

Venugopal said the preparations for the December 14 rally against "vote chori" and the general political situation was also discussed.

Earlier in the day in Bengaluru, Shivakumar accompanied AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge to airport from the Vidhana Soudha, after paying tributes to B R Ambedkar on his 69th death anniversary, which had led to some speculation about a possible discussion between the two on the leadership issue.

The power tussle within the ruling party had intensified amid speculations about a change in chief minister in the state, after the Congress government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20.

However, both the CM and the Deputy CM had recently held breakfast meetings at each other's residences on the instructions of the high command, which is seen as a move to pause the leadership tussle between the two and to signal Siddaramaiah's continuation as the CM for the time being, especially ahead of the Belagavi legislature session. PTI ASK MNK MNK