Amid the intense power tussle in Karnataka between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, the two leaders on Saturday echoed a message of unity and said they would abide by any decision the Congress high command takes.
During a media interaction after their breakfast meeting in Bengaluru, both Siddaramaih and Shvakumar asserted that there were no differences between them.
"We have decided that we will follow whatever the high command says. There will be no confusion from tomorrow. There is still no confusion. Some media reporters have created the confusion," Siddaramaiah said.
He added that the meeting was "productive" and they discussed the state's priorities and the Congress party’s prospects in the local body polls and the 2028 assembly elections.
"Our agenda is the 2028 elections. Local body elections are important. We discussed them. We also discussed bringing back Congress in the 2028 elections. We discussed that we will go together. There are no differences between us, and there will be no differences in the future," he said.
Shivakumar, too, dismissed rumours of disgruntlement in the party and said they were looking to fulfil the wishes of the people.
"We have to fulfil their wishes. In that direction we are working. What the party high command decided we are working," he said.
According to media reports, Shivakumar is likely to travel to Delhi and meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
The CM and the deputy CM are locked in a bitter power tussle, and at the heart of the dispute is a purported power-sharing agreement made in 2023 between them.
Media reports and Shivakumar's loyalists claim that, as per the agreement, he would be made the chief minister once the government completed the halfway mark.