DK Shivakumar’s Delhi visit fuels talk of leadership change in Karnataka Congress

Bengaluru : Political temperatures within the Karnataka Congress have begun to rise again, with the buzz over a cabinet reshuffle and even a potential change in leadership intensifying. Adding fuel to the speculation, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s repeated trips to Delhi have become the centre of political curiosity.

Shivakumar, who is widely seen as a chief ministerial aspirant, was in Delhi on Sunday (October 27) to meet top Congress leaders. However, sources said that Rahul Gandhi did not grant him an appointment, forcing the KPCC president to return to Bengaluru the same evening.

According to Congress insiders, Shivakumar has now sought a separate meeting with Rahul Gandhi on November 11, the day the second phase of voting in the Bihar Assembly elections concludes. The timing has triggered speculation that key decisions on power-sharing and leadership structure in Karnataka may be discussed during that meeting.

Party sources indicated that Shivakumar is likely to raise the issue of cabinet expansion and political balance within the state unit, as murmurs of dissatisfaction among senior leaders grow louder. Some ministers and MLAs have privately expressed displeasure over the dominance of CM Siddaramaiah’s camp, fuelling talk that the Deputy CM is preparing the ground for his next move.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Shivakumar has instructed his loyalists to remain silent until November 11, advising them to avoid public statements or political manoeuvres that could disrupt the Congress high command’s internal deliberations.

The Congress government in Karnataka will complete two and a half years in office on November 20, a timeline that has also gained significance amid talk of a “mid-term adjustment” between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar — a formula that was speculated to have been agreed upon when the government was formed in May 2023.

While both leaders have publicly dismissed rumours of a leadership change, political circles in Bengaluru are abuzz that the high command may take a call soon, depending on the outcome of the Bihar polls and the party’s national political calculus.

With the next round of discussions likely in mid-November, all eyes are now on Rahul Gandhi’s response to DK Shivakumar’s request for a personal audience, which could determine whether Karnataka’s Congress government continues under the same leadership — or sees a dramatic shake-up in the months ahead.

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