May 27, 2026 18:28 pm IST

Opinion | A 'Bangarappa' Redux? How Another Karnataka Chief Minister Was Asked To Resign In 1992

The images flashing on the TV screens on Tuesday reminded this author of a similar scenario in 1992, when S Bangarappa, Karnataka's first OBC Chief Minister, was asked to resign by PV Narasimha Rao.

Ramakrishna Upadhya Ramakrishna Upadhya Columnist

Ramakrishna Upadhya Columnist

Whether the Congress high command, after dilly-dallying for months, has taken a 'bold' decision or a 'reckless' one in asking Siddaramaiah to resign as the Chief Minister of Karnataka and make way for someone else, will become clearer in the next two to three days.

A sanguine meeting of the Congress bigwigs' huddle in New Delhi on Tuesday, which the Siddaramaiah group had expected to be a routine filibustering exercise indulged in by the leadership to ward off DK Shivakumar's demand to install him as Chief Minister, took an unexpected and dramatic turn in the afternoon. It left Siddaramaiah, according to an observer, "shell-shocked".

It all happened after the leaders broke for lunch and Rahul Gandhi went home for his meal and held discussions with his mother, Sonia Gandhi, and sister, Priyanka Gandhi. Reports suggest that Rahul informed them that apart from the general meeting where they discussed the Rajya Sabha and legislative council nominations from Karnataka, he had one-on-one deliberations with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, where nothing much emerged.

Sonia, Priyanka Speak Up

At this point, Sonia reminded Rahul about the 'commitment' she had made to Shivakumar and suggested that it was time to honour it. Priyanka, who had........

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