NEW DELHI: The power tussle for the top post in Karnataka Congress turned ugly on Thursday with chief minister Siddaramaiah taking open potshots at his deputy DK Shivakumar. Hours after Shivakumar posted a cryptic message reminding Siddaramaiah and the Congress high command to “keep one’s word and walk the talk”, the chief minister has hit back using “word play” to target his deputy. Earlier today, Shivakumar in a post on X wrote, “WORD POWER IS WORLD POWER. The biggest force in the world is to keep one’s word. Be it a judge, president or anyone else including myself, everyone has to walk the talk. Word power is world power.” The state Congress president, who is eyeing the top post as part of a “secret deal” in 2023 for rotational CM following the party’s sweeping victory in the assembly elections, wants Siddaramaiah to honour the commitment made then by the party leadership.
Siddaramaiah, who has often asserted that he will complete his term of 5 years, made an interesting response to DKS message. The chief minister used the same words to take potshots at his deputy. “A Word is not power unless it betters the World for the people. The mandate given by the people of Karnataka is not a moment, but a responsibility that lasts five full years. The Congress party, including me, is walking the talk for our people with compassion, consistency, and courage. Our Word to Karnataka is not a slogan, it means the World to us,” Siddaramaiah wrote on X. Siddaramaiah then went on to list the promises that he had fulfilled as the chief minister in his two tenures. This open social media “word” war between the two top state leaders marks a definite shift in their approach. Till now, it was the supporters of the two leaders who were engaging in verbal spats. But with Siddaramaiah completing two-and-a-half years as chief minister, DKS has clearly upped the ante. The ball is in the court of Congress high command, but the open spat between the two leaders could well damage the prospects of the grand-old-party even if it manages to save its government for now.
