Bengaluru, Nov 29 (IANS) The breakfast meeting between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday has assumed significance amid the ongoing leadership crisis in the state over the CM’s post. This development has created a major stir in political circles. The authorities have also beefed up security ahead of the important meeting.

Preparations have been made at the Chief Minister’s residence in Bengaluru for the high-profile breakfast meeting. Sources close to CM Siddaramaiah stated that along with Dy CM Shivakumar, the Chief Minister has also invited a few ministers close to him.

Sources said that all of them will attend the breakfast meeting, after which CM Siddaramaiah and Dy CM Shivakumar will hold a closed-door meeting. They also revealed that the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister will meet first, and after Shivakumar leaves, CM Siddaramaiah will hold an informal meeting with the ministers close to him. The move to invite ministers has raised curiosity.

Precautions have been taken to maintain secrecy, with only trusted staff and minimal personnel scheduled to be present at the CM’s residence.

The CM’s Legal Advisor and MLA A.S. Ponnanna arrived at the CM’s residence ahead of the breakfast meeting.

The meeting has been organised by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah following instructions from the High Command. The national leadership has reportedly called both leaders and directed them to meet and convey the outcome. Dy CM Shivakumar’s travel plans to Delhi were cancelled at the last minute due to this development.

Both CM Siddaramaiah and Dy CM Shivakumar have cancelled all their programmes for the day. After the meeting, Shivakumar is likely to fly to Delhi and join his brother, former MP D.K. Suresh, who is in the capital trying to secure an appointment with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge.

The High Command instructed Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to first talk to each other and come to a clear understanding, and not to arrive in Delhi with any confusion. It is following this instruction that this decision has been taken.

The High Command leaders have clearly instructed that they should not come to Delhi after quarrelling. The national leadership has issued a strict directive asking both of them to come to Delhi together, according to sources.

The Congress high command, in its first formal move to defuse the leadership crisis in Karnataka, has asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar to meet one another and convey the outcome to the central leadership.

AICC general secretary and MP K.C. Venugopal has spoken to both leaders and urged them to resolve the matter between themselves and inform the high command of their decision.

Party sources said that if the bilateral meeting succeeds, a planned joint visit to Delhi to seek a central resolution will be called off, sparing the party further embarrassment. However, if no understanding is reached, national leaders are likely to summon both to Delhi on Sunday, November 30 and a decision would be taken in a meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi, the sources said.

Siddaramaiah confirmed the development to the media in Bengaluru, saying he had invited Shivakumar for a breakfast meeting at the direction of the high command.

“The high command has asked us to hold a meeting first between ourselves. Then we have been summoned to Delhi. That is why I have invited him for a breakfast meeting,” he said.

The Chief Minister reiterated that his position on the leadership question remains unchanged. “I have already stated that I will abide by the decision of the high command. I am committed to that statement today and will be committed to it tomorrow as well,” Siddaramaiah said.

He added that Shivakumar had expressed a similar stance and that both would go to Delhi when called.

Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar would be summoned to the national leadership in Delhi to settle the issue.

The political tussle has seen public exchanges and competing assertions from both camps. Siddaramaiah had earlier maintained he would remain chief minister for the next five years, while Shivakumar’s camp has pressed for change — an impasse that prompted the high command’s intervention.

Congress veteran and former Union Minister M. Veerappa Moily told IANS he was critical of the infighting, saying the party’s all-out fight over the chief ministership had caused national embarrassment. Moily also faulted the high command for its delayed response, accusing senior leaders of failing to act in time and thereby allowing the situation to worsen.

He criticised the one-upmanship and posturing within the state unit and described the episode as indicative of an “anarchic” internal state.

–IANS

mka/rad