Siddaramaiah rejects leadership change rumours again, says 'no vacancy' in Karnataka

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has once again dismissed rumours of a leadership change. Following a meeting with the Congress high command on Friday (July 11), he clarified that the speculations regarding a vacancy in the CM post were “not discussed at all.”

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Replying to the media queries in New Delhi, the chief minister stated that the issue of leadership change was not discussed. “How many times do I tell you, it (speculations around Karnataka CM post) was not discussed at all? This issue was not discussed at all with the high command,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.

On Thursday, the Karnataka chief minister firmly stated that there was “no vacancy” for the top post and affirmed his commitment to serving the full five-year term. “Am I not sitting here as the chief minister? Where is the vacancy? DK Shivakumar himself has clarified this, and I’m saying the same, there’s no vacancy for the CM post,” he told reporters during his Delhi visit.

Meeting with top leaders

The Karnataka chief minister is currently in Delhi for a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other senior party leaders. The meeting comes amid ongoing speculation that the party high command might address growing calls from some ministers and MLAs in Karnataka for a change in leadership.

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Amid the speculation, the Opposition BJP has urged the Congress high command to clarify its stance on Siddaramaiah’s possible exit. BJP leader Rachna Reddy said, “The Congress high command must come clean, if not publicly, then at least to DK Shivakumar, about whether he will be shown the door and whether the promise made to him, which compelled him to accept the deputy chief minister’s post, will be honoured.”