. Amid speculations over a change in the government of Karnataka, a prominent Vokkaliga pontiff Kumara Chandrashekarnatha Swamy publicly asked CM Siddaramaiah to hand over power to deputy CM DK Shivkumar. The pontiff’s statement comes when a few Congress leaders are urging for the appointment of more deputy Chief Ministers and replacement of the Karnataka Congress President.
The seer said this at the 515TH birth anniversary of Bengaluru founder Kempegowda, an icon of the Vokkaliga clan to which Shivkumar also belongs. The seer who heads the Vishwa Vokkaliga Mahasamsthana Mutt said on stage, “Everyone has been the CM and tasted power. Only DKS hasn’t become the Chief Minister. This can be possible only if Siddaramaiah makes Shivkumar the CM.”
Over this Chief Minister Siddaramaiah replied, “I am an elected Chief Minister and not a nominated CM.” The CM further said that the Congress is a national party. The party high command has to decide on who should be the CM, not any Swamy.” He added that in a democratic nation whatever the high command decided is final