Even as speculations over a change of guard in Karnataka intensified as the Congress government in the state has reached its half-way mark and the BJP continued to target the grand old party on the issue, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday said he did not want to discuss the CM change issue publicly.
Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, had accompanied AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, who was in the state for the past few days to the Bengaluru airport. When Shivakumar was asked about the CM change, he said, "I don't know. I have not asked to make me the CM. It is a secret deal between five and six of us. I don't want to speak publicly on this. I believe in my conscience. We should work with our conscience.”
He said he does not want to cause embarrassment to the party in any way and weaken it. “If the party is there, we are there. If karyakartas are there, we are there."
When told that the people of Bengaluru South had given all the four seats in the district to Congress to see him as the CM, Shivakumar said he had not asked anyone for anything.
"During the election time, I had gone to all constituencies, including Mahadevappa (Minister close to Siddaramaiah), to vote, looking at my face. I have asked everywhere in Mandya too. I don't dispute it. People have voted. In all 224 assembly segments, karyakartas have worked tirelessly more than us and have brought this government to power. The MLAs and ministers are the beneficiaries," he said.
On being told that his supporters and party workers were offering prayers for Shivakumar to become the CM, he said, "Prayers offered today are not that important when compared to prayers offered by mothers and sisters, youths, elders and workers when I was in jail. They prayed that I should be released. Today I am deputy CM and party president. They prayed when I did not have any of these positions. They stood by me and gave me moral courage. That's big."
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had an hour-long meeting with Kharge on Saturday, reiterated that the party high command should ultimately take the decision to end the confusion and demands surrounding CM change.
Even as a few Congress MLAs, who are supporters of Shivakumar, are in Delhi, the CM said legislators are free to meet the party leadership and share their opinion. "Let them (legislators) go, MLAs have freedom. Let's see what opinion they give. Ultimately, the high command has to make the decision. We will abide by what the high command says."
According to party sources, while Siddaramaiah is pushing for a reshuffle of his Cabinet, Shivakumar wants the party to first decide on the leadership change.
With PTI inputs