Karnataka negotiations: Rahul and Kharge meet but no consensus, deadlock over CM

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge met Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar separately after holding detailed discussions with Rahul Gandhi; AICC organisation general secretary K C Venugopal; and AICC in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala earlier in the day.

Shivakumar, who arrived here from Bengaluru Tuesday, after putting off his visit Monday, is said to be not relenting on his demand that he be made the Chief Minister.

Both the CM aspirants Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar held a meeting with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence today. (ANI Photos)

Sources said Rahul was of the view that the high command should defer to the views of the MLAs, a majority of whom are said to be backing Siddaramaiah.

The high command, too, is said to be divided with some senior leaders holding a view that Shivakumar had worked hard for the victory and should be rewarded with the CM’s post. Without revealing much, at least one leader said Kharge too likes “fighters.”

KPCC chief D K Shivakumar at party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)

The day saw hectic parleys with Rahul driving to Kharge’s 10, Rajaji Marg residence shortly after noon. The two, along with Surjewala and Venugopal, discussed the report submitted by the AICC observers on the basis of the views expressed by the MLAs. With the Lok Sabha election just a year away, the Congress leadership cannot afford to antagonise either of the two leaders and is trying hard to find a please-all formula. It is also aware that how it manages the transition also affects both its credibility and that of the new government.

Shivakumar, who reached Delhi in the afternoon, met Kharge in the evening. The meeting lasted around 40 minutes. Sources said Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga heavyweight, told Kharge that he could not accept anything less than Chief Ministership since he has worked hard for the last three years to bring the party to power. He was appointed state Congress chief in March 2020.

Karnataka’s ex-CM Siddaramaiah after meeting Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)

Another argument was that the party had already made Siddaramaiah Chief Minister once and it was time to repose faith in a new leadership.

A source close to Shivakumar said that the party had not yet taken a decision to name Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister, signalling that the “game is still wide open”. The source also claimed that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had reposed faith in Shivakumar, hinting that he has their backing.

Shortly after the Shivakumar-Kharge meeting, Siddaramaiah met Kharge. Rahul, meanwhile, had a meeting with Venugopal separately. Sources said Sunil Kanugolu, one of the Congress strategists who worked behind the scenes in Karnataka, also joined them.

With the party leadership unable to bring the two leaders to an agreement, sources said there will be more meetings now to narrow the gap between the two and arrive at the elusive consensus.