Siddaramaiah will not give up CM post on his own, claims Kumaraswamy
Mysuru (Karnataka) (PTI): Amid the ongoing power tussle within the ruling Congress in the state, Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday claimed that Siddaramaiah will not give up the Chief Minister post on his own.
The JD(S) leader was responding to a question about whether Siddaramaiah will complete a full five-year term (2023-28) or give up the Chief Minister's post.
"He (Siddaramaiah) has said he will continue as CM if the high command says so, while his son (MLC Yathindra Siddaramaiah) says that his father will be CM for a full five years. We have seen him (Siddaramaiah) when he was with us (JD(S)), we have experience with him. Many in Congress also have experience but cannot speak out," Kumaraswamy said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "In my opinion, there is no question of him (Siddaramaiah) giving up (CM post) on his own."
"He threatens the Congress high command and has ensured they cannot speak (against him)," the JD(S) second-in-command claimed.
Amid speculations about a leadership change, Siddaramaiah recently asserted that the Congress government will remain in power for two more years and that he is the CM of the state.
The leadership tussle within the ruling party has intensified amid speculation about a possible change of chief minister after the Congress government completed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, 2025.
The speculation has been fuelled by the reported "power-sharing" arrangement between Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar when the Congress formed government in 2023.
Responding to a question about his party leaders and legislators repeatedly stating that Kumaraswamy will become the Chief Minister once again, the JD(S) leader said it is up to God's will and the will of the people.
"Is it in our hands? Did any astrologer or our party workers predict when I became chief minister twice in the past? Some party workers may shout such slogans wherever I go, out of their affection towards me...with God's grace, I became CM twice, but did I occupy that post with a clear majority. No. God wrote it in my fate, I became CM. If I have to become CM once again, it is God's will. Let's see what is the will of the people," he said.
Kumaraswamy has headed the coalition government with both the national parties despite JD(S) being a junior partner -- for 20 months with BJP from February 2006 and with Congress for 14 months after the May 2018 Assembly polls.
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Govt should take Oppn into confidence, restore India's role as credible voice for peace: Congress
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress urged the BJP-led Centre on Friday to take the opposition into confidence, and urgently recalibrate and adopt a unified national approach to restore India's historic role as a principled, proactive and credible voice for peace.
The opposition party welcomed the ceasefire between the United States and Iran as a vital step towards de-escalation, renewed diplomacy and constructive dialogue and ultimately, lasting peace in West Asia.
In a resolution adopted at a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held at the Indira Bhawan here, the party said the targeted assassinations of heads of state, waging war in violation of international law and attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are unconscionable crimes against both humanity and a rules-based world order.
"Any meaningful resolution must be anchored in the principles of the Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Charter -- particularly the prohibition on the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State (Article 2 [4]) and the peaceful settlement of disputes (Article 2 [3])," the Congress said in the resolution.
The document said this pause also provides an opportunity to assess the costs for India.
In the recent past, India's energy security has been undermined, the country's ties across its extended strategic neighbourhood have been strained, its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region has weakened and its moral leadership within the Global South has eroded, it noted.
"Equally worryingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's myopic, xenophobic and unprincipled internationalism has not only alienated India from its neighbours, but also undermined decades of painstaking efforts by successive Indian governments to diplomatically isolate Pakistan.
"By ceding strategic and diplomatic space, the BJP government has handed Pakistan the room to rehabilitate its global image, and whitewash its track record of fomenting regional instability through support for cross-border terrorism targeting India, Afghanistan and Iran," the resolution read.
The Congress said the government's "incompetence" has allowed Pakistan to claim a pivotal role in the great power competition in Asia, which will also give Islamabad leverage over New Delhi on crucial bilateral issues through third-parties, effectively internationalising India-Pakistan matters.
"Given the unprecedented polycrisis we face, the BJP government must stop subordinating the national interest to electoral and ideological considerations, and disregarding the counsel of India's foreign policy establishment.
"Instead, the BJP government must take the Opposition into confidence, urgently recalibrate and adopt a unified national approach to restore India's historic role as a principled, proactive and credible voice for peace and a just international order," the resolution adopted at the CWC meeting read.
It said successive governments since 1947 have upheld global principles, drawing on a foreign-policy tradition rooted in "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the world is one family), Mahatma Gandhi's doctrine of "Ahimsa" (non-violence) and former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's policy of non-alignment.
This commitment is also enshrined in Article 51 of the Constitution, which calls for respect for international law and treaty obligations, it said.
In keeping with this legacy, India has consistently and constructively intervened against apartheid in South Africa, in the Korean War through the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission, in its support for anti-colonial movements across Asia and Africa, as a principled voice of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Global South, reflected in sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve numerous conflicts, such as in Hungary, Egypt, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan etc., and from its contributions to humanitarian relief and United Nations peacekeeping operations, the resolution said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel ahead of the war created the perception of a political endorsement of military escalation and of an incumbent far-right government on the eve of that country's national election, the CWC said.
Both incidents underscored the inherent risks in the conflation of diplomatic engagement with electoral politics and the fundamental principle that relationships are between countries, not between individual leaders or ideologically-aligned political parties, it added.
