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A year of leadership rifts that defined Karnataka politics
The BJP faced its own challenges, while significant policy milestones were achieved amid ongoing political turbulence.
The defining images of Karnataka’s politics in 2025 were not election rallies or dramatic policy confrontations, but a series of attempts at reconciliation to settle a deeper struggle for power. From public shows of unity to behind the scenes manoeuvring, the year unfolded as one of political uncertainty, with leadership questions inside the ruling Congress shaping governance and dominating public discourse.
At the centre of this turbulence was the uneasy relationship between chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy, DK Shivakumar. As the Congress government crossed the halfway mark of its five year term, clarity over who would lead it through the remainder remained elusive. Siddaramaiah, a seasoned mass leader with a long administrative track record, consistently asserted that he would serve a full term. In contrast, sections of the party aligned with Shivakumar openly predicted a leadership transition once the government completed 2.5 years.
What set the leadership tussle apart was its unusually public character. Supporters of both leaders articulated their positions openly, often through statements that left little room for ambiguity. This forced repeated interventions by the party’s central leadership, which struggled to contain the fallout without appearing to take sides. The resulting uncertainty began to seep into governance, as officials and legislators alike calibrated their actions amid shifting political signals.
In an effort to project unity, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar hosted each other for breakfast in highly publicised meetings supposedly to signal a thaw. The symbolism briefly changed the narrative, suggesting that the party had found a way to manage its internal differences. But the respite was short lived. The same unresolved questions resurfaced during the Karnataka legislature’s Belagavi session in December, reinforcing the perception that the truce was cosmetic.
By the end of the year, Siddaramaiah appeared less assured than during his earlier tenure between 2013 and 2018, when he was widely regarded as the undisputed centre of authority. In 2025, power within the Congress was clearly more diffused. Senior leaders privately acknowledged the presence of at least three power centres in the state: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Kharge’s own remarks added to the ambiguity. “The confusion was created by local leaders, and they have to settle it,” he said. While the comment aimed to push responsibility back to the state leadership, it also underscored the limits of central intervention in a party grappling with competing ambitions.
Even as the Congress struggled to manage its internal balance, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party faced turbulence of its own. Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal continued his attacks on former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and his sons, including state BJP president BY Vijayendra and Shivamogga MP BY Raghavendra. The prolonged confrontation exposed deep fault lines within the party and forced the leadership to act. In March, Yatnal was expelled for six years, a move intended to signal discipline and draw a line under public dissent.
The BJP’s challenges did not end there. Two other senior leaders, ST Somashekar and Arabail Shivaram Hebbar, were removed from the party for siding with the Congress. Together, the expulsions reflected the BJP’s struggle to maintain cohesion after losing power and to redefine its leadership structure in a changed political landscape.
Despite the political churn, governance continued to register milestones. Siddaramaiah presented the state budget for a record 16th time, unveiling an outlay of ₹4.09 lakh crore for 2025-26.
Bengaluru’s civic administration underwent a significant transformation on May 15, when the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act came into force. The law split the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike into five municipal corporations, marking one of the most far-reaching changes to the capital’s governance structure in decades. The move was framed as a step toward more efficient administration, though its long-term political implications were still being assessed.
Within the Congress, discipline was enforced selectively. In August, cooperation minister KN Rajanna was removed from the cabinet after publicly blaming the government for alleged vote theft in the Mahadevapura assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
On the policy front, Karnataka secured a significant legal victory in the long running Cauvery water dispute. The Supreme Court dismissed Tamil Nadu’s plea against the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project as premature, strengthening Karnataka’s position on a project seen as crucial for meeting Bengaluru’s growing drinking water needs and generating hydroelectric power. The ruling provided a rare moment of political consensus in an otherwise divided year.
As 2025 drew to a close, the cumulative effect of leadership rivalry and internal party tensions left Karnataka’s politics in a state of suspended certainty.
