A major political transition appears to have taken place in Karnataka as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday appointed Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar as his successor. The appointment came just hours after a high-level breakfast meeting at the Chief Minister’s residence in Bengaluru last evening, in which the first person to lead the Karnataka Congress government is out of the woods.
Siddaramaiah told ministers and senior party leaders that DK Shivakumar will be the next Chief Minister of Karnataka, sources said. The proposal was unanimous among all ministers in the meeting and made the transition to the new leadership of the Congress party effective.
The development is one of the largest political changes in Karnataka since the Congress became the Chief Minister after the Assembly elections in 2023. Since then, there has been speculation of a rotation of Chief Minister between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, and the party has never officially acknowledged such an agreement.
The decision was taken by Rahul Gandhi, as he is the leader of the senior Congress in Delhi and at the top of the party hierarchy. The change in the Congress leadership has been handled carefully so as to avoid factional friction and to keep the state unit united to face future elections too.
Siddaramaiah said he was stepping down voluntarily and that all official procedures for the transfer of power would soon be done. The Chief Minister will be heading to Delhi later in the afternoon at 3:30 PM, with a few more days left in the fast-moving politics.
Political observers see Siddaramaiah’s backing of DK Shivakumar as a signal of stability in the Congress Government. The gesture is also understood to be a signal to party workers and partisans in Karnataka that the party is united.
The emotional atmosphere at the meeting was a sign of the significance of the moment. Siddaramaiah’s resignation and DK Shivakumar’s elevation had raised a lot of speculation in political circles and Congress workers across the state in the past couple of weeks.
After the Congress won the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar became the two most powerful leaders in the race for Chief Minister of Karnataka. Siddaramaiah was elected as Chief Minister after negotiations and interventions of the Congress high command, whereas Shivakumar was made Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President.
Since then, DK Shivakumar’s supporters have repeatedly pushed for leadership rotation and claimed that a consensus had been reached in the party at the time of the formation of the government. The current developments seem to confirm that the long-discussed transition formula is finally being implemented.
Political analysts believe the Congress leadership also wants to be able to do so in the context of the longer term and take it into the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2028. The party is also going to prepare for a peaceful transfer of power and a united front in the future, and is going to be able to hold the opposition parties in check.
If he gets sworn in as Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar, one of the strongest organisational leaders of the Congress party in Karnataka, will have his own style of administration and political management. With an aggressive political strategy and a solid grassroots network, Shivakumar has been in power in the Congress party leadership in the state for many years.
Now all eyes are on the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Delhi for a new political chapter in Karnataka in the coming weeks. As Siddaramaiah is now officially backing DK Shivakumar and has already said that he is with DK Shivakumar as the new political direction for Karnataka, the uncertainty of Karnataka’s political destiny has finally come to an end.
