In what seemed like a direct exchange, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar – who is considered to be staking claim for the CM post as per a ‘prior agreement’ – shared cryptic posts on social media Thursday.
Shivakumar first grabbed the headlines Thursday morning with a post on X.
“Keeping one’s word is the greatest strength in the world,” he said in the post. Attached to it was a black and white image of Shivakumar talking to the media and had a quote, “Word power is world power. The biggest force in the world was to keep one’s word. Be it a judge, president or anyone else, including myself, everyone has to walk the talk. Word power is world power.”
Siddaramaiah returned fire in the evening, posting, “A Word is not power unless it betters the World for the people.” Listing out the ‘success’ of guarantee schemes, he claimed that he had fulfilled 95 per cent of the campaign promises during his first term and 243 of the 593 promises in his two-and-a-half-year tenure in the second term.
“The mandate given by the people of Karnataka is not a moment, but a responsibility that lasts five full years. The Congress party, including me, is walking the talk for our people with compassion, consistency, and courage.
“Our Word to Karnataka is not a slogan, it means the World to us,” he said.
The posts came amid intensified debate over an apparent ‘power-sharing agreement’ between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, which entailed the CM forfeiting his post for the deputy CM after two and a half years at the top. Though Siddaramaiah had maintained in the past that he was CM for the full term, he recently put the onus on the Congress high command to clear the air about the issue.
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The remarks on social media by Shivakumar seemed to imply the existence of an agreement between the two. The deputy CM recently said that whatever consensus the party leadership arrived at in May 2023 – when Shivakumar had staked claim to be CM – was “a secret among five to six people. I don’t want to disclose it.”
By maintaining that “the mandate given by the people of Karnataka” was “a responsibility that lasts five full years”, Siddaramaiah appeared to claim that he was the leader of the Karnataka government for the full term.
After Siddaramaiah completed two and a half years in power earlier this month, speculations have intensified over the issue. A group of MLAs supporting Shivakumar had travelled to Delhi recently seeking clarity on when the transfer of power would take place.
Shivakumar had also met Public Works Department Minister Satish Jarkiholi during the late hours of Tuesday, which was seen as an attempt to gain support for his claim for the CM post. Jarkiholi, a political heavyweight and a Siddaramaiah loyalist, said post the meeting that Siddaramaiah remained their leader.
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters in Delhi Wednesday that he would convene a meeting with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, along with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, to provide a remedy to the situation.
Both CM and deputy CM said that they would travel to Delhi when summoned.