Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in Delhi; All set to meet Gandhis

New Delhi, July 20: Senior Karnataka Congress leader and former state chief minister S Siddaramaiah, who was in Delhi to meet the top leadership of the party amid the speculations of power tussle ahead of the state assembly elections in the southern state, is likely to meet Rahul Gandhi on today, sources have said.

Siddaramaiah also sought a meeting with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, however, it is yet to be confirmed.

"I am in Delhi because Rahul Gandhi wanted to meet me by 4 o'clock today. I am meeting him. This is what KC Venugopal told me. I don't know what subject matter he is going to discuss," news agency quoted Siddaramaiah as saying.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah denied speculation of any rift between him and the party's Karnataka unit chief DK Shivakumar. "We are together. We are building the party together... there's no rift in Karnataka Congress," he said.

Siddaramaiah stressed Congress is fighting against the "corruption" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state and asserted that it will return to power after the next assembly elections, which was slated to be held in 2023.

Siddaramaiah's visit to the national capital is significant as it comes in the backdrop of several Congress MLAs openly backing him as the next chief ministerial face of the party. This includes Chickpet MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan and Kampli MLA JN Ganesh.