Congress asks Siddaramaiah to quit as Karnataka CM, offers Rajya Sabha berth: Sources

The Congress high command has asked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to step down and shift to national politics through the Rajya Sabha, party sources told India Today on Tuesday. 

The party leadership has offered Siddaramaiah a Rajya Sabha berth from Karnataka and a “bigger role” in Delhi as part of ongoing discussions on the future leadership structure in the state, sources said.

The Congress leadership assured Siddaramaiah that “all other things and his issue will be taken care of” during the discussions.

The leadership held a high-level meeting at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary KC Venugopal, and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala.

Addressing reporters after the meeting, Venugopal denied any discussion on a leadership change and said the nearly two-hour meeting focused exclusively on Rajya Sabha and Karnataka Legislative Council elections.

“Today’s discussion was only around Rajya Sabha polls and MLC elections. Whatever you speculated is not true,” Venugopal told reporters. “We had a meeting. CM, DCM, and Randeep were present. The entire discussion concentrated on Rajya Sabha and MLC seats today. Stop speculation.”

Despite the denial, the meeting revived talk around the Congress’s internal power-sharing arrangement in Karnataka. Supporters of Shivakumar have repeatedly maintained that he was promised the chief minister’s post after the party’s victory in the 2023 Assembly elections.

The formal agenda of the meeting included discussions on the upcoming Rajya Sabha and Karnataka Legislative Council elections. Four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka are falling vacant, with the Congress expected to win three and the BJP likely to secure one.