Bengaluru: Speculation over the political situation in Karnataka ended on Thursday after chief minister Siddaramaiah told his cabinet colleagues that he is resigning as per instructions from the Congress high command.
The party leadership would take a final decision on his successor, Siddaramaiah said at a breakfast meeting hosted at his official residence in Bengaluru.
“Whoever gets picked as the next chief minister will have my full cooperation,” he said.
Among those who attended the meeting was deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar, who is widely seen as the frontrunner for the chief minister’s post.
For days now, 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, as reported by News18.
The outgoing CM had reportedly sought an appointment with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and was expected to meet him later in the day to tender his resignation formally.
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.
Crucial meetings were 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 MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party general secretary K C Venugopal, and AICC Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Siddaramaiah eventually agreed to resign because the message came directly from Rahul Gandhi, sources said.
He had repeatedly maintained in the past that he would step down if Rahul Gandhi personally asked him to do so.
According to a PTI report, 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.
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.
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.
