BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said there is no change of guard in the offing in the state and also ruled out any cabinet reshuffle. Rumours were rife about some major political developments in the state after Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi hosted a dinner for Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues at his residence on Thursday.

There were also speculations that the state would get a new Congress state president replacing Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is holding the post for the past five years. “What can I do if you speculate about our gathering over dinner as a meeting?” Siddaramaiah told reporters here. When asked what the purpose was behind the gathering, Siddaramaiah said, “to have meals.” To the question whether the meeting was for a change of the chief minister or cabinet reshuffle, he said, “No. Those are all lies. No such change is happening.” A few ministers met Siddaramaiah at the dining table on Thursday night.

About 18 to 20 ministers and MLAs were present at the dinner, Congress sources said. Since the event happened in the absence of Shivakumar, who was abroad, rumours started making round that the dinner was being hosted to discuss the next Congress president in Karnataka. Shivakumar has been holding the Congress state president post since March, 2020.

The BJP MP and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Friday said there was a strong infighting in the Congress and this dinner party in the absence of Shivakumar was its reflection. “While Shivakumar is trying to remove the chief minister, whose image has taken a beating due to the MUDA scam, the chief minister is now trying to cut down on Shivakumar’s stature by removing him from the KPCC president’s post,” Shettar told reporters.

He said the infighting would finally lead to the fall of the government. State Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa dismissed these speculations, saying that it was just a dinner which he had attended. “We just had our dinner. We did not discuss any politics,” he said.

Shivakumar has been holding the Congress state president post since March, 2020. Under his leadership, the party stormed to power with 134 seats in 224-member Karnataka legislative Assembly in 2023. The Congress also increased its tally in the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka from just one out of 28 seats in 2019 to nine in 2024. Further, the party swept in the assembly bypolls by winning all the three seats recently.

The party high command often considered Shivakumar as its troubleshooter.

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