Rahul Gandhi asks Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar to work together; strengthen party: Sources

Rahul Gandhi. Pic/PTI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during his meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy, DK Shivakumar, on Tuesday, asked the two leaders to work together and run the state government in coordination, Congress sources said on Tuesday. In wake of reports of 'factionalism' within the state unit of Congress, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha emphasised the need to strengthen the party.

He also asked the leaders to look at the reasons behind the party's performance in Karnataka in the recent Lok Sabha elections, and why it failed to win as many seats as it was expecting and work in that direction. Siddarmaiah and DK Shivakumar met Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretaries; Randeep Surjewala and KC Venugopal at Kharge's residence in the national capital on Tuesday.

"In view of the factionalism between the Karnataka Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister after the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi asked all leaders to work together. He asked them to run the government in coordination and together," Congress sources said. "He also asked them to strengthen the party and pay attention to the reasons for not getting the expected number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections and fix them," the sources added.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won only nine out of 28 seats in Karnataka. BJP, which was ousted from power in the state a year ago, won 17 seats. Janata Dal-Secular, on the other hand, won two seats. Although, Congress improved on its 2019 performance, where it could only win one seat, the performance was below the expectations of the party leadership.

Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, took to social media platform X and said that they discussed several issues during the meeting with Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders. "Lok Sabha held a meeting with Leaders of Opposition@RahulGandhi, AICC General Secretaries @kcvenugopalmp, @rssurjewalaat the residence of AICC President @kharge and discussed various issues. DCM @DKShivakumar was with me at this time," Siddarmaiah said in his post.

Meanwhile, DK Shivakumar posted, "I and the Chief Minister today met AICC President Mr. @kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mr. @RahulGandhi and AICC General Secretaries Mr. @kcvenugopalmp and Mr. @rssurjewala in New Delhi and discussed many issues." Congress came to power in Karnataka in 2023 with a resounding victory. It won 135 seats in the 224-member assembly. The BJP was restricted to only 66 seats and JD(S) won 19 seats.

After days of deliberation, Siddaramaiah was decided as the Chief Ministerial face and DK Shivakumar -- who is also the chief of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) -- was given the role of his deputy. However, reports of factionalism and rifts between the two leaders have surfaced from time to time, following which the party high command has intervened, urging both leaders to work together.

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