Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has pulled out of his planned trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, choosing to stay back for a high-stakes week of domestic politics. While global leaders gather in Switzerland, Shivakumar’s office confirmed on Saturday that he is prioritising a string of meetings in New Delhi and a looming legislative battle in Bengaluru.
The timing of the cancellation is raising eyebrows across Karnataka’s political circles. Officially, his plate is full: he is coordinating the Congress party’s strategy for the upcoming Assam assembly elections and leading a massive campaign against the Union government over changes to MGNREGA. This rural employment issue is the centerpiece of a special five-day Assembly session set to kick off on January 22, and as the state Congress chief, Shivakumar is expected to be the face of that protest.
His immediate schedule is equally hectic. After attending election meetings in the national capital, he is flying to Bidar this evening to pay his respects at the funeral of veteran leader Bheemanna Khandre, who passed away at the age of 102. From there, he is expected to head back to Delhi via Hyderabad late tonight.
Despite the official reasons, the decision to skip the prestigious Davos summit has only added fuel to the rumors regarding the state’s leadership. The Congress government recently hit its two-and-a-half-year milestone—the traditional "halfway point" where many believe a power-sharing deal between Shivakumar and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was supposed to kick in.
Speculation reached a fever pitch earlier this week following a brief, closed-door huddle with Rahul Gandhi on a Mysore tarmac. While Shivakumar has publicly dismissed any talk of a rift, his sudden return to Delhi and the cancellation of his international travel suggests that the party’s high command might be in the middle of some very sensitive internal negotiations.
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