CM and his deputy use word play and pun to target each other amid leadership battle (Page one)

The intensifying power tussle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar moved to the social media on Thursday, with both exchanging cryptic and coded messages on the platform X, targeting each other.

In what seemed like a veiled reference to the so-called power-sharing agreement struck in 2023 and a dig at the Chief Minister and senior leaders of the party, Mr. Shivakumar said on X, “Word power is world power.” He further said, “Keeping one’s word is the greatest strength in the world… The biggest force in the world was to keep one’s word… Be it a judge, president, or anyone else, including myself, everyone has to walk the talk. Word power is world power.” He, however, later refused to acknowledge the post.

Responding to it with a play of words, Mr. Siddaramaiah said hours later on X, “A Word is not power unless it betters the world for the people.”

Listing out his achievements in the previous (2013-2018) and the present terms, he named the five guarantees delivered by him in the current tenure and other social welfare schemes implemented through his career.

“We transformed our guarantees into action; not in words, but on the ground,” he said. “Our Word to Karnataka is not a slogan, it means the World to us.”

These developments come even as the Congress high command is set to summon both the leaders to New Delhi to put an end to the crisis that is damaging the image of the government in Karnataka, a key State for the party.