Karnataka Congress Leaders Await Decision on Leadership Issue

Bengaluru: Chief MinisterSiddaramaiahhimself will reveal the decision taken on the leadership issue, his deputyD K Shivakumarsaid on Tuesday. Experience a more refined e-paper today “A decision has been taken by the CM, the high command and me. When the time comes, there will be clarity. The CM himself will inform the people of the state,” Shivakumar said, virtually lobbing the ball into Siddaramaiah’s court. Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president, was reacting to Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa’s statement. On Monday, the minister said that none can force the Congress high command to intervene in the dispute over leadership between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. “Will the tail wag the dog?” Mahadevappa said. “Mahadevappa is a big man. Now, he’s also a part of the high command. I don’t want to talk about it. The party will decide about this,” Shivakumar said. Foreign tour: Minister K Venkateshpulls out Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh said Tuesday that he was not travelling overseas with other Congress lawmakers. Over 20 lawmakers, most of them Siddaramaiah loyalists, are embarking on a trip to Australia and New Zealand. “Initially, I was invited. I said I’d come if I could. Now, I’m not going. The others are going with their own money,” Venkatesh said. The lawmakers’ trip has nothing to do with the leadership tussle between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, Venkatesh said. Shivakumar said he had no idea about the trip. “Are they going by themselves? Are they being sponsored? As party president, I don’t know about this,” he said. Playing down the foreign trip, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge pointed out that lawmakers travelled last year, too. “Do they need permission for a private trip?”