‘Together we…’: Congress indicates Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar rift over

The Indian National Congress posted a video on Saturday on Twitter hinting at peace between Karnataka Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and state party president DK Shivakumar. Tweeting the video, Congress said, “Together, we can and we will emerge victorious.”

The video shows while Shivakumar fixing the pocket of Siddaramaiah's attire as the duo posed for photos.

There have been speculation about a widening rift between the two top leaders of the Congress in Karnataka. The tussle gave BJP an advantage as the principal opposition has been busy with its problems and has been unable to capitalise on the piling charges of corruption, distortion of history and mal-administration under Basavaraj Bommai, people aware of the developments said.

The rife between the two leaders for being the chief ministerial candidate is a known secret in Karnataka. This had also fuelled the infighting between the two camps, forcing others to identify with either one of them ahead of the elections.

Siddaramaiah, in a recent interview, had said that the upcoming Karnataka elections will be his last assembly election.

Recently, Siddaramaiah had also called a news report — stating that he said the Congress party should not consider Shivakumar for the CM post if they want to win — “totally false”.

The two leaders, in February, also took separate bus tours in northern and southern parts of the state which reignited rumours that all was still not well within the party. The two then decided to have a joint bus tour after the intervention of the party high command.