The leaders of Congress party maintain there is no crisis in Karnataka, but say that a decision will be taken by the party high command. With a decision they mean the ongoing silent war of “words” the two top politicians of the party — CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar are having for weeks now. The reason – a promise DKS says was made when the party formed the government in 2023. A change of CM after 2.5 years of the government. 

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar also met with Vokkaliga seer Nanjavadhutha Mahaswamiji in his office today. The seer has now asked for an “opportunity” for the community at the top seat. They back DKS for the CM post. Multiple meetings have been held by DKS. One with MLAs, another with some strong camp leaders of Siddaramaiah; but he is not saying anything openly.

DKS and Siddaramaiah were seen together at an event recently; is it a signal that they have reconciled? Even Congress does not know it seems. DKS has said that he would go to Delhi and the CM might visit too.

“will definitely go to Delhi. It is our temple. Congress has a long history, and Delhi will always guide us. When they call me, party leaders and CM, we will go there…My community is the Congress. I may belong to one community, and they may like it, but my love is for all sections of society…I don’t want anything; my party will make the decision,” he said.

It is likely they will have a meeting with Congress high command, comprising party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and KC Venugopal.

Congress leader Pawan Khera, meanwhile, said, “There is no power tussle.” “Let them (BJP) try what they have to. They lost the last election, and they will lose the next one too,” he added.

Senior Congress leader BK Hariprasad, like others, said, “Everybody has confidence in high command, they will take a call on every issue.” The high command has not taken any decision yet.

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The social media tussle

Amid the ongoing confusion, DKS and Siddaramaiah are engaged in a social media war over one word – “word”. DKS’ social media post on “keeping one’s word” has got a response from Siddaramaiah. 

“A Word is not power unless it betters the World for the people. Proud to declare that the Shakti scheme has delivered over 600 crore free trips to the women of our state. From the very first month of forming the government, we transformed our guarantees into action; not in words, but on the ground,” Siddaramaiah said.

Hailing some popular schemes of the government including Shakti, Gruha Lakshmi among others, the CM said 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 added. 

Before him, DKS shared a post with a poster saying, “Word power is world power.” He captioned it – “Keeping one’s word is the greatest strength in the world!”, a veiled dig at Siddaramaiah for not catering to a promise made 2.5 years ago.

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Allies say ‘internal matter’ as rival makes fun

The Congress infighting has become a pain point for its allies in other states. With Uddhav Sena, and others calling it an “internal matter”, the BJP has taken the opportunity to sharpen its attack on the Karnataka government.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said it was “internal matter” of the party, and “we don’t know what commitments were made. Continuity of development is more important”.

Meanwhile, BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla called the row an OTT show with the Congress adding episodes on it day after day. “The Congress party has now started fighting openly in public in Karnataka, and yet another episode has been added to this ongoing OTT series of ‘Congress vs Congress’ in Karnataka,” he said. 

Poonawalla added that first Shivakumar said that there is a secret deal about the Chief Ministership, and then DK Shivakumar tweeted that ‘word power’ is ‘world power’. 

“Then, responding to that, Siddaramaiah says that the word has no meaning if it doesn’t change the world… Their words and their worlds are revolving around the chair, and INC has now come to mean ‘I Need Chair, I Need Confusion.’ For the last two and a half years, their only priorities have been power, the chair, and leadership,” the BJP leader said.

The BJP leader said Congress does not care about the people of Karnataka or the farmer crisis; and that “For Congress, power is the priority, not people…”.

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