High command has given clear signal there won't be leadership change, claims Siddaramaiah's son

Mysuru Congress MLC Yathindra Siddaramaiah on Friday claimed that the party high command has given a clear signal that there won't be any leadership change in the state, and his father Siddaramaiah will be the chief minister for the full five years. He said the CM change issue is a settled one and the high command has so far not acknowledged the calls for change. Sharply reacting to the CM son's claims, Deputy Chief Minister and another claimant for the CM post, D K Shivakumar said, "Yathindra is our high command, and let's accept what he says very respectfully." "Once he (Yathindra) has said, it's like the high command had said. Let's accept Yathindra as the high command... I don't want to react to Yathindra or Basavaraj (Congress MLA Shivaganga V Basavaraj). If anyone has to react, our Delhi (leaders) will have to react," he told reporters in Mangaluru. The leadership tussle within the ruling party has intensified amid speculation about a possible change of chief minister after the Congress government completed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, 2025. The speculation has been fuelled by the reported "power-sharing" arrangement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar at the time of the government's formation in 2023. Yathindra responding to reporters' question in Mysuru on leadership change said, "No one is discussing it in political circles other than the media. It is a settled issue. There are other issues to focus on in the state. The budget is coming up. The financial situation is such that we are not getting the revenue like in the past. The central government is not properly giving the state's share of funds. So we need to focus on that." Asked whether Siddaramaiah as CM for a full five years is now a settled issue, he said, "It appears so now. No one has said that Siddaramaiah should be removed or will be removed." Stating that there is no confusion over the leadership issue, the MLC said, "According to me, the high command might not have said it openly, but have given a clear signal that there will not be any leadership change. So I believe that Siddaramaiah will be the CM for five years." Shivakumar on Thursday had expressed confidence that the Congress high command will call him to New Delhi, whenever they take any "political decision" on the leadership issue. Responding to a question, Yathindra said truth has won in the MUDA site allotment case in which CM Siddaramaiah and his wife B M Parvathi and others were facing charges. A special court in Bengaluru had recently accepted the 'B' report (closure report) filed by the Karnataka Lokayukta police, giving clean chit to Siddaramaiah, Parvathi and others who were facing allegations of illegalities in allotment of 14 sites to Parvathi by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). "Since the time when the allegations regarding the alleged MUDA scam surfaced, I have been saying that there is no scam and it is a false allegation out of political malice, and the truth that I have been saying has ultimately won," Yathindra told reporters. "The case is not over yet. B report has been accepted by the court, but there may be an appeal. Let's see...," he added.