Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday announced before his cabinet colleagues that he was resigning from the top post following instructions from the Congress high command, formally setting
the stage for a leadership transition in the state government.
At a breakfast meeting hosted at his official residence in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah informed ministers that he would step down as Chief Minister and said the party leadership would take a final decision on his successor.
“I am resigning as instructed by high command,” Siddaramaiah told his cabinet colleagues during the meeting.
He further stated, “The high command will decide the next chief minister,” making it clear that the Congress leadership would take the final call on who would lead the government in Karnataka.
The veteran Congress leader also assured full support to whoever succeeds him.
“Whoever gets picked as the next chief minister, they will have my full cooperation,” he said.
The breakfast meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is widely seen as the frontrunner for the chief minister’s post, along with several cabinet colleagues.
RESIGNATION SPECULATION ENDS
There had been intense speculation for days that Siddaramaiah would step down to pave the way for Shivakumar as part of an internal understanding within the Congress party.
The political developments gathered pace after reports emerged that the Congress high command had asked Siddaramaiah to make way for a leadership change in the state.
Siddaramaiah had reportedly sought an appointment with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and was expected to meet him later in the day to tender his resignation formally.
However, Raj Bhavan sources said the Governor was not in Bengaluru and had travelled to Indore for personal reasons.
Siddaramaiah had also indicated earlier that he would speak publicly on the issue on Thursday, further fuelling speculation around the leadership transition.
HIGH-LEVEL CONGRESS MEETINGS IN DELHI
The developments in Karnataka come after crucial meetings held in Delhi earlier this week involving the Congress central leadership.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were summoned to the national capital on Tuesday, where a series of meetings took place at the Congress headquarters.
The discussions reportedly involved Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party general secretary KC Venugopal, and AICC Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Some sources indicated that Siddaramaiah eventually agreed to resign because the message came directly from Rahul Gandhi.
The Karnataka Chief Minister had repeatedly maintained in the past that he would step down if Rahul Gandhi personally asked him to do so.
Even as speculation over the leadership change intensified, Surjewala on Wednesday clarified that the Congress had not officially called a Legislature Party meeting and that no formal decision had yet been announced.
He urged the media not to speculate on the issue.
Reports cited by PTI suggested that the Congress high command had offered Siddaramaiah a central role within the party, along with a Rajya Sabha seat as part of the transition process.
However, Siddaramaiah had reportedly not immediately accepted the proposal.
The 77-year-old leader remains one of the Congress party’s tallest backward class leaders in Karnataka and enjoys strong support among AHINDA communities, a Kannada acronym referring to minorities, backward classes and Dalits.
LONG-RUNNING POWER SHARING SPECULATION
The leadership tussle between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar dates back to the Congress victory in the May 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.
Both leaders had emerged as strong contenders for the chief minister’s post after the Congress returned to power in the state.
The party leadership eventually convinced Shivakumar to accept the Deputy Chief Minister’s position while Siddaramaiah took charge as the Chief Minister.
At the time, there were widespread reports that a “rotational chief minister formula” had been worked out, under which Shivakumar would take over after two-and-a-half years.
Though the Congress never officially confirmed such an arrangement, speculation around the formula intensified after the Karnataka government crossed the halfway mark of its five-year tenure in November 2025.
