Congress bickering over power sharing continues

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru / Ramanagar: The tug of war for the Chief Minister’s post between the camps of CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar refused to die down as public statements continued to come in thick and fast. This past Sunday, Congress held a thanksgiving programme for party workers in Channapatna where candidate CP Yogeshwar won by a comfortable margin of more than 25,000 votes, defeating JD(S) man Nikhil Kumaraswamy in a by-poll back in November. Notably all four MLAs in Ramanagar district belong to Congress.

One of the four lawmakers, Congress MLA from Magadi HC Balakrishna, expressed hope in his speech that Shivakumar would be elevated to the CM’s post. Earlier, Leader of the Opposition (LOP) R Ashoka had claimed that Shivakumar would become the CM on either November 15 or 16, adding that the Deputy CM would “snatch” power. Responding to this, Home Minister G Parameshwara mocked Ashoka for trying his hand at astrology, adding that Siddaramaiah would remain for a full five-year-term. “I wasn’t aware that he learned astrology,” Parameshwara said.