Karnataka: Siddaramaiah- DKS meet over breakfast; truce unlikely
The Opposition BJP warns of moving no-confidence motion; hectic parleys on
In indications of attempts at a truce amid the intense power struggle in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has invited his embattled deputy, D K Shivakumar, for a breakfast meeting on Saturday (November 29) at the behest of the Congress high command to discuss the leadership row.
Here are some important updates from the Federal Karnataka Team:
➤ The meeting is scheduled to take place at 'Kaveri' (CM's residence) in Bengaluru after 9 am.
➤ DK Shivakumar wants the leadership change to happen before Assembly Session at Belagavi, beginning the first week of December.
➤ Or else, by February, and he wants to present the Budget himself as the new CM.
➤ Sources say the breakfast meeting is more of optics, and may not fetch any desired results
➤ Rahul Gandhi will hold a meeting with both leaders by Saturday evening or Monday morning.
➤ The final decision will most likely be taken in New Delhi.
Siddaramaiah's announcement of the crucial breakfast meeting came on a day when his cabinet colleague and party chief Mallikarjuna Kharge's son, Priyank Kharge, said the Congress has the 'sense of timing' to resolve issues.
Shivakumar, for his part, said "he was not in a hurry," even as Siddaramaiah asserted there was no change in his stand.
BJP to move no-confidence motion
The Opposition BJP warned it would move a no-confidence motion should the tussle continue. "The party high command had called me and him (D K Shivkumar) and asked us to have a meeting. Hence, I have invited him for breakfast tomorrow. We will discuss when he comes," Siddaramaiah said.
"There is no change in my stand and I have said I will listen to whatever the high command says. Both of us have said that we will obey whatever the party high command says," he added.
The chief minister also said that he will go to Delhi if the high command calls him.
I am in no hurry, says DKS
Earlier on Friday, Shivakumar, the Congress state president replied in the affirmative when asked if he would go to Delhi and meet the party high command, saying "Delhi is our temple." "I don't want anything. I am not in a hurry. My party will take a decision," he told reporters in Bengaluru.
He said he may travel to the national capital in view of the Parliament's winter session starting December 1.
On his visit to the national capital, he said, "I may go to Delhi." "I have a lot of work there. The parliament session is approaching. I have to meet all Karnataka MPs because they need to take up some of our projects," he said. Asked whether he would meet the party high command, Shivakumar said he would.
"Delhi is our temple. All of us have to go. Without Delhi, nothing can happen. Congress is a party with a long history, and it has always guided us," he said.
He added that the Congress leadership decides party policy, and that both he and the Siddaramaiah would go to Delhi whenever called.
When asked whether the BJP would move a no-confidence motion against the state government during the Belagavi session of the legislature, party MP and former CM Basavaraj Bommai said, "There is time till December 8. If such a situation arises, the occasion to move a no-confidence motion may come."