Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday amid speculation of cabinet reshuffle and leadership change in the state. The speculation comes as Siddaramaiah's half-term finishes in November this year.
In a post on X, Siddaramaiah shared a picture from the meeting and wrote in the caption that both the leaders “held discussions”. “I met AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in Bengaluru and held discussions,” the Karnataka CM wrote.
Later, while sharing details about what was discussed in the meeting, Siddaramaiah told reporters that they talked about party organisation and the upcoming local body elections including the Bengaluru municipal polls, however, there was no discussion on cabinet reshuffle.
He also dismissed the speculation about leadership change in Karnataka as “creation of the media”.
“We talked about party organisation, local body elections and Zilla Panchayat/Taluk Panchayat elections. There was no discussion about the cabinet. Change in leadership is just speculation,” Siddaramaiah said.
‘Whatever the high command says’
When asked about whether there will be a change in the leadership in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said that he will respect whatever decision the party high command would make before adding that such a decision will be taken “shortly”.
{{/usCountry}}When asked about whether there will be a change in the leadership in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said that he will respect whatever decision the party high command would make before adding that such a decision will be taken “shortly”.
{{/usCountry}}"Whatever decision is taken by the High Command, I will follow it,” he said.
Some 15 Congress MLAs of Karnataka and a dozen MLCs reportedly camped in New Delhi to push for Karnataka’s deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar to be the next chief minister of the state, news agency PTI reported citing sources.
When asked why the MLAs went to Delhi and met Kharge, Siddaramaiah said that he did not bring up the topic during his meeting with the Congress chief. “If at all I have to gather information about the reason behind the MLAs meeting Kharge, I will collect it from the intelligence department. I have not asked the MLAs why they went there,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.
"Let the MLAs go to Delhi. Ultimately, every leader, every minister, even me and D K Shivakumar, have to abide by the party high command's decision," he added.
When DK Shivakumar was asked on Saturday about the MLAs going to Delhi, he told reporters, "All are eligible to go and meet their leaders. You can't stop them, you can't tell them no,” reported news agency ANI.