The Congress leadership in Delhi is once again confronting a familiar crisis from Karnataka, where internal rivalry between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy, DK Shivakumar, has escalated into a full-scale political standoff. Over the past week, the dispute has spilt from closed-door negotiations into public statements, cryptic social media posts, open factional signalling, and sharpened questions about whether Congress is preparing for a "change of guard" midway through its tenure.
In the middle of this churning, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and national General Secretary Syed Naseer Hussain told NDTV that the final decisions lie with a very small circle in the high command, not with him. Responding to questions about whether the current standoff has reached a critical point, Hussain stressed that the Congress leadership is handling the matter centrally and closely.
"See, the party is in touch with both the leaders and the other MLAs in Karnataka. Our General Secretary in charge of Karnataka, Shri Randeep Singh Surjewalaji, is continuously in touch with all the MLAs, MLCs, party leaders, senior leadership, Chief Minister, PCC President and everyone. An assessment has already been done earlier and even now when this thing has come up in public domain, he has tried to assess the situation on his own. Obviously, he will be putting up his report through the party high command and it will be discussed and resolved in the light of the feedback given by the General Secretary in charge," he told NDTV.
The senior MP acknowledged that the escalation of internal tensions comes at a complicated moment for the party. The Winter Session of Parliament begins on December 1, and the Karnataka Assembly session starts soon after. Pressed on whether the party can afford uncertainty going into two legislative sessions, Hussain said he expected a resolution within days.
"I think there should be clarity before the winter session starts because we do not want to go into the assembly session in Karnataka having these issues in the background. But the party high command is very clear that we need to put an end and resolve this matter in the best possible way and at the earliest," he said.
He pointed out that since the national leadership will already be in Delhi for the session, this would be "the best time" for discussions. Hussain also noted that mid-term reviews were unavoidable:
The Big Question
The question many in Karnataka, and the rest of the country, have been asking is whether the party had indeed agreed to a rotational Chief Minister formula in 2023. When asked directly whether there would be a "change of guard", Hussain exercised caution.
"See, I wouldn't be able to tell that to you right now because I was not privy to what was discussed when a decision was taken after the 2023 elections. And only very few I think were privy to what actually happened at that time. Maybe three, four of them. What was said, what was not said, what was the language that was used and what were the words that were exactly used. There is lots of rumours, there are lots of whispering, there are lots of campaigns about that thing," he told NDTV.
He added that the leadership's upcoming meetings with both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar "will bring more clarity and resolution".
