Will speak to person who should be spoken to: Shivakumar on Yathindra’s statement

Bengaluru: With talks of leadership change in Karnataka emerging, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said he will speak to the person who should be spoken to.

He was commenting on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra Siddaramaiah’s statement that state Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi is a leader with progressive ideological thinking similar to his father.

"I am not going to speak now, but I will speak to whomever it is that should be spoken to," Shivakumar told reporters here.

He was replying to a query by a reporter who sought to know why notice was not served to Yathindra, who was speaking about the change of guard.

Addressing a gathering at Chikkodi in Belagavi district on Wednesday, Congress MLC Yathindra said, "He (Siddaramaiah) is at the fag end of his political life. At such a time, a leader is needed to guide and lead those who have progressive thinking, ideologically."

Minister Satish Jarkiholi is a leader with similar progressive ideological thinking, he said.

Recently, two Congress MLAs H D Ranganath and H A Iqbal Hussain were served notices for their statement that Shivakumar should become the next chief minister of the state.

Amid talks of leadership change, Yathindra’s statement led to speculation on whether he was speaking about the successor to his father.

Siddaramaiah has constantly reiterated that he will complete a full five-year term.

There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the chief minister's post after the declaration of Assembly election results in May 2023, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy CM.

There were some reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational chief minister formula," according to which Shivakumar will become CM after two-and-a-half years, but they have not been officially confirmed by the party.