"It's Of No Use": Siddaramaiah's Banter With "Pure Vegetarian" Reporter

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday shared a light-hearted moment with reporters after having breakfast at the residence of his deputy, DK Shivakumar, amid a power tussle in the state.

A reporter asked Siddaramaiah about the difference between the meals the two Congress leaders shared at his house on Saturday and at Shivakumar's home.

"At his house, we had non-veg, and at my house, it was a pure vegetarian breakfast," Siddaramaiah, who was served 'Nati koli saaru' (country chicken curry) at Shivakumar's Bengaluru residence, answered.

"He (Shivakumar) is vegetarian, and I am non-vegetarian. But even then I had a vegetarian meal prepared at my house. I told DK (Shivakumar) to get a country chicken from the village, which is of high and original quality," he said.

He then asked the reporter, "Do you eat non-veg?" to which she replied, "No, I'm a pure vegetarian."

Siddaramaiah then shot back. "What does 'pure' mean? Don't you eat eggs?"

When the reporter answered "no," he said, "Then it's of no use."

Photo Credit: PTI

The breakfast menu at Siddaramaiah's house also included 'nati koli' fry, vada, and pongal, among other items, while on Saturday, they reportedly had idli, upma and kesari baat (a breakfast dessert made of semolina), among others.

There has been speculation about a change in leadership in Karnataka as the Congress government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term last month. Supporters of Shivakumar have demanded that he should become the next Chief Minister.

There was tough competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the chief minister's post after the Karnataka assembly election in 2023. The Congress had then convinced Shivakumar to take up the deputy chief minister post. Some reports at the time, however, claimed that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational chief minister formula", according to which Shivakumar would take the helm from Siddaramaiah after two-and-a-half years. Those reports, however, were rejected by the two leaders and the party's other senior members.

Siddaramaiah on Tuesday again cleared the air and said that they have "no differences".

"This understanding will always be there. There are no differences. DK Shivakumar and I are united; we run the government unitedly. In the future also we will run the government unitedly," he told reporters.

Deputy Chief Minister Shri @DKShivakumar had invited me for breakfast and I had agreed to come today. We met this morning and had breakfast together, along with Shri D K Suresh and Kunigal MLA Shri H D Ranganath.

After breakfast, D K Shivakumar and I discussed the upcoming… pic.twitter.com/9cEircv9h2

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) December 2, 2025

On the leadership issue, he said both of them will abide by the high command's decision.

"So far, there is no communication from the high command on the timeline for any decision on the matter," he said.

"If they (high command) call us, we will definitely go and meet them," he added.