"She Sacrificed Power for Nation": DK Shivakumar Invokes Sonia Gandhi Amid Karnataka CM Succession Row

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday intensified the simmering leadership tussle within the Congress by publicly invoking Sonia Gandhi’s 2004 decision to renounce the Prime Minister’s post, in what is being widely interpreted as a veiled message to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to honour the alleged power-sharing agreement made after the 2023 Assembly polls.

Speaking at a public event in Bengaluru, Shivakumar reminded the audience that Sonia Gandhi, despite being invited by then President APJ Abdul Kalam to take oath as Prime Minister after the UPA’s victory, chose to step aside and nominated Dr Manmohan Singh instead. “Sonia Gandhi was Congress president for 20 years and sacrificed power for the larger good of the country,” he said, drawing applause from the crowd.

While Shivakumar coupled the remark with a call to “stand united behind the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah” and seek people’s blessings again in 2028, party insiders and MLAs loyal to the Deputy CM saw it as the strongest hint yet that Siddaramaiah should now make way as per the reported 2.5-year rotational formula agreed upon in 2023, when both leaders staked claim to the top post.

The halfway mark of the five-year term passed last week without any indication from Siddaramaiah that he intends to step down. In recent days, Shivakumar and his supporters have escalated pressure through a series of public and private reminders, including the Deputy CM’s earlier remark that “a word given is power” and lobbying in Delhi with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Siddaramaiah, in an apparent retort on X on Friday morning, posted: “‘Word’ is not ‘power’ unless it betters the world for the people,” indicating growing irritation with the campaign.

The Chief Minister has admitted to “confusion” within the party ranks and urged the central leadership to put an end to the speculation. Kharge, during a visit to Karnataka earlier this week, assured that “Soniaji, Rahulji and I will resolve the matter,” marking the first formal acknowledgement from the high command of the internal crisis.

Senior Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala, who mediated similar tensions in 2023 and again in June this year, dismissed the controversy as a “BJP-orchestrated malicious campaign.”

With less than three years left for the next Assembly election and the party still recovering from successive electoral setbacks elsewhere, the open friction between Karnataka’s two tallest leaders has become a major embarrassment for the Congress high command, which is under pressure to enforce discipline without triggering a wider rebellion.

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