2.5+2.5 Term Deal Raised Again: DK Shivakumar Flags Pact In Breakfast Meet

Karnataka is again living through a crisis that feels eerily familiar. Over the last week senior Congress leaders, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar, moved from open rivalry to a breakfast featuring upma, idli, and sambar. The current contest evokes strong parallels to a previous chapter in Karnataka's political history which offers a cautionary tale.

In 2006-07 an ostensibly stable pact between the Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a rotational power-sharing arrangement collapsed into political acrimony, resignations and a period of President's Rule. The episode involved a familiar cast of JD(S) chief HD. Kumaraswamy and BJP stalwart BS Yediyurappa.