Karnataka Leadership row: All eyes on Siddaramaiah''s trip to Delhi to attend CWC meet

Bengaluru, Dec 26 (PTI) All eyes are set on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s trip to Delhi to attend the Congress Working Committee meeting.

The meeting comes in the midst of the leadership issue in the state, where Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s supporters are interested in seeing him as the next CM soon. About his visit to Delhi, Siddaramaiah told reporters in Davangere, “I am going for the CWC meeting today but I don’t go to Delhi frequently.” Chief Minister had recently said inside the Karnataka Assembly that the party high command appears to be on his side and he would complete his five-year tenure.

Before leaving for New Delhi for the CWC meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters that all the confusion would be sorted out.

“I will speak there. Why will I speak here?” Kharge said.

As the reporters asked him when the confusion over leadership in the state would be sorted out, he said, “It will be sorted out. You don’t need to worry about it.” Shivakumar on Wednesday dismissed speculation about a possible change of guard in the state after Makara Sankranti, saying such talk exists only in the media and not within the party or government.

Shivakumar, who was in Delhi, said he is not meeting anyone during this trip.

"Kharge is in Delhi. I think Rahul Gandhi came yesterday, and I don't want to disturb him," he said.

Asked about the change of guard in Karnataka, he told reporters, "The speculation is only in the media. There is no speculation within the party or anywhere in the government. The media is only speculating about things." Speaking about his current role, the Deputy CM said, "I would love to be a party worker rather than (holding) any position in the party. That is permanent for me," adding that he has been working for the party since 1980, completing 45 years of service.

Congress MLA from Ramanagara, H A Iqbal Hussain, a Shivakumar loyalist, has even predicted that there will be a leadership change in the state on January 6 or 9.

Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office told PTI that leadership change may not figure in the CWC meeting in New Delhi.

“The information we have is that this is only about drawing strategies for the upcoming Assembly elections in the country,” a source said.

Besides Siddaramaiah, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will also be attending the meeting,” he added. PTI GMS GMS ADB