NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing leadership crisis in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday floated another theory that Congress may ignore both Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar and choose a “dark horse” for the chief ministerial post in the state.Talking to reporters, former Karnataka CM and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai said that chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DKS are “being inflexible due to their ego,” leading the high command to consider alternative options.“CM and Deputy CM both have a very egoistic attitude. They are not ready to budge an inch. Therefore, the high command is compelled to think of the other alternative. So in this context, a dark horse might emerge in the state,” Bommai said.Mallikarjun Kharge in CM race?This comes as a section within the Karnataka Congress has reportedly pitched party chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s name for the chief minister’s post amid the “leadership tussle”.Minister Shivananda Patil described Mallikarjun Kharge as the “most eligible person” for the CM post. “I had committed a mistake once by not voting for him. I accept it today,” he said.State home minister G Parameshwara also said that if the party high command decides, everyone would accept Kharge as the chief minister. The issue of a Dalit chief minister has long been debated within Congress, with senior Dalit leaders including Parameshwara and Mahadevappa speaking on the matter in the past.Some prominent Dalit leaders are reportedly planning to push for a “Dalit CM” before the high command in the event of a change in state leadership, PTI reported.PTI cited sources and claimed that Kharge, a Dalit stalwart in the party, lost the chance to become chief minister thrice — in 1999 to S M Krishna, in 2004 to Dharam Singh and in 2013 to Siddaramaiah.Kharge’s son and Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, however, dismissed the speculations, calling them “irrelevant”.“Whenever elections happen here (in Karnataka), he is in the race to become the CM, and whenever Parliamentary elections happen, he is in the race to become the PM. Such discussions are irrelevant now,” Priyank said.Speculations over a change of CM in Karnataka gathered pace as soon as the government completed its halfway mark on November 20. Reports quoting Congress sources suggested that MLAs and MLCs from Shivakumar’s faction had camped in Delhi to push the party high command to make him the next chief minister.DK Shivakumar added to the speculations after he claimed that there had indeed been “a confidential understanding on leadership transition among five-six leaders” soon after Congress won a landslide in the 2023 elections.Meanwhile, DKS on Friday said that he will travel to Delhi to meet the high command over the “power tussle” between him and Siddaramaiah.“I will definitely go to Delhi. It is our temple. Congress has a long history, and Delhi will always guide us. When they call me, party leaders and the CM, we will go there,” Shivakumar said.“My community is the Congress. I may belong to one community, and they may like it, but my love is for all sections of society… I don’t want anything; my party will make the decision,” he added.This comes as Mallikarjun Kharge, along with Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, is likely to meet DKS and Siddaramaiah in Delhi on November 30.
