After resignation, what next for Siddaramaiah? | Above the Fold | 28.05.2026

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:12]Good evening. I'm Sonika Loganathan and welcome to Above the Fold. In this episode, we take a look at Karnataka's political future as Siddaramaiah resigns from the post of Chief Minister. India and China hold talks over the LAC. The Madras High Court bans cow slaughter in Tamil Nadu and more. So, stay tuned for our full report.

[00:00:34]We begin with Karnataka where Siddaramaiah officially resigned as Chief Minister today following a directive from the Congress High Command. The 77-year-old veteran leader and Karnataka's longest-serving Chief Minister broke the news to his cabinet at a breakfast meeting at his home in Bengaluru this morning.

[00:01:08]He then went directly to the governor's office at Lok Bhavan where he submitted his resignation to special secretary Prabhu Shankar. The resignation triggered emotional scenes as Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar hugged Siddaramaiah and touched his feet to seek his blessings.

[00:01:25]D.K. Shivakumar is likely to take over as Chief Minister, but the official announcement is yet to be made.

[00:01:32]Siddaramaiah has been offered a Rajya Sabha ticket ahead of the June 18th elections, but he has flatly rejected moving to Delhi. He says he intends to stay in state politics. A socialist leader with vast mass appeal, he also holds a record for presenting the highest number of state budgets, delivering his 17th budget just this past February. In his final press conference, he hit back at detractors.

[00:01:57]He criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the opposition for running a misinformation campaign against his welfare schemes. He said his government successfully delivered on all five core financial guarantees, spending over 1.4 lakh crore rupees while keeping Karnataka number one in per capita income.

[00:02:18]When asked directly who will succeed him, Siddaramaiah smiled and stated that the decision rests entirely with the Congress high command.

[00:02:26]All eyes now turn to Friday when the Congress Legislature Party is scheduled to meet to officially elect the next Chief Minister of Karnataka.

[00:02:35]To know what this leadership change means for the Congress ahead of 2028, let's go to our colleague Raghavi M who discussed this with Bagishi S, the resident editor of The Hindu in Karnataka.

[00:02:47]>> Siddaramaiah in the past, he kind of rejected the rotational CM formula.

[00:02:52]And he also insisted that he will continue to, you know, complete his full term.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah, I mean, yes, of course, in the past he has said that he would stay the full term. On some occasions he has himself said and on some occasions his loyalists on I mean, apparently on his behalf have made such statements. But that should not really surprise us.

[00:03:15]Siddaramaiah being a consummate politician, you wouldn't expect him sitting in the Chief Minister's chair to say that my days are numbered. I mean, it doesn't make any political or administrative sense for a Chief Minister who's in the chair to say that I'm not going to stay here forever. He will either have administrative or political hold if he were to make such assertions. And also of course, I mean, somebody who is in that chair would surely want to stay on, right? So, that's also a very uh nothing nothing that should surprise us.

[00:03:49]So, these two factors I think uh have are important to remember. And also, I think all said and done, the two chief ministers I mean, the two players in this uh have always ended anything they have said with the refrain, "We will abide by what the high command says."

[00:04:08]So, which also, when the high command finally called both of them together, they did I mean, it went as per the script, we can say. I mean, as things stand today, they it's gone as per the script.

[00:04:20]>> Uh what do you think will be the future for Siddaramaiah himself? He said that he won't be moving to Delhi. He'll be remaining actively in state politics.

[00:04:29]What What is the future for his him and his close aid Satish? And also his son Yatindra? Do you think Congress will follow the same script BJP followed in Bihar? How do you think that will pan out?

[00:04:40]>> I mean, D. K. Shivakumar, considering how hard he has fought to get here, he would be willing to make some accommodations. I mean, first thing he would definitely do is to accommodate uh Yatindra. And Satish Jarkiholi has also I mean, he's openly talked about how he wants to be the KPCC president. So, that might come true. And also, in terms of caste equation, it is important for uh Congress to have uh it would be good to have a uh uh somebody from the Ahinda formation in that uh No, not OBC. He's a Scheduled Tribe community leader. So, uh So, that would be a good uh I mean, that would be something they would be looking at.

[00:05:19]Uh another thing is Siddaramaiah's future I mean, he has even in the press conference he held sometime ago, he made it very clear that he's not interested in national politics. And that is something he has said repeatedly that national politics is not his cup of tea.

[00:05:33]So, he won't be moving there. He has said that he is an MLA and will remain an MLA here.

[00:05:39]>> Siddaramaiah received the caste survey report. Now, how do we interpret this?

[00:05:43]Uh is it, you know, a final uh shot towards D. K. S. because, you know, he was opposing it.

[00:05:49]>> It's going to be tricky for DK Shivakumar, for sure, because the caste that he comes from, Vokkaliga, and also his own stand on the issue earlier, he has been opposing it. You can be very sure that Siddaramaiah is not going to be very quiet about it. I suspect one of the things he would say, he would negotiate, would be caste census, implementation of caste census.

[00:06:09]>> And in international news, India and China held what both sides are describing as, quote, constructive and forward-looking talks on the situation along the line of actual control in eastern Ladakh. Here are the details.

[00:06:23]>> At a meeting of the working mechanism for consultation and coordination, or WMCC, held in Beijing, officials from both countries reviewed the situation along the line of actual control and expressed satisfaction over progress in maintaining peace and tranquility in border areas. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the improvement in border stability has helped enable gradual normalization in overall bilateral relations. The two sides also discussed border management, delimitation issues, mechanism building, and cross-border cooperation. India stressed the need for an early meeting of the expert-level mechanism on transborder rivers, while both countries agreed to maintain regular diplomatic and military exchanges. Importantly, India and China also agreed to make substantive preparations for the next round of special representative talks expected to be held in China. The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, joint secretary East Asia in the MEA, while the Chinese delegation was led by Wu Jiangqi, director general of the boundary and oceanic affairs department of the Chinese foreign ministry. The meeting comes amid a broader diplomatic reset between the two neighbors. Over the past year, both sides have disengaged troops from several friction points in Eastern Ladakh, including Depsang and Demchok under the October 2024 agreement. The latest talks also follow recent high-level engagements between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of SCO summits August last year, where both leaders stressed the importance of rebuilding ties based on mutual trust, respect, and sensitivity.

[00:08:06]>> In other international news, President Donald Trump appeared to threaten US ally Oman during remarks on the Strait of Hormuz, warning against any arrangement that would allow Iran and Oman to jointly control the waterway.

[00:08:20]The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump had misspoke and intended to refer to Iran instead of Oman.

[00:08:27]Oman is a key US ally in the Gulf and has played an important mediating role in regional tensions and negotiations involving Iran.

[00:08:36]Now to Tamil Nadu, on the eve of Bakrid celebrations, the Madras High Court has ordered the state government to immediately enforce a 1976 government order banning cow slaughter across the state.

[00:08:49]One of the judges on the bench, Justice G.R. Swaminathan, had earlier faced criticism over his observations on the Thiruparankundram Deepam case. The public interest litigation was filed by Hindu Makkal Katchi functionary K. Surya Prakash, whose party had spearheaded protests against the Tamil Nadu government over the right to light the sacred Deepam atop the Thiruparankundram Hill near the Dargah. In this petition, Prakash complained about temporary sheds having been put up in many places in Coimbatore to slaughter cows during Bakrid.

[00:09:21]Acting on the plea, the court directed the chief secretary and the DGP to ensure that no cow or calf is slaughtered anywhere in Tamil Nadu during Bakrid or otherwise, and ordered strict enforcement across districts.

[00:09:34]The bench also also that goats and sheep can only be slaughtered at licensed slaughterhouses. In the verdict, Justice Swaminathan also cited Article 48 of the Constitution and past Supreme Court rulings, observing that cow sacrifice is not an essential religious practice in Islam, while holding that the 1976 government order has the force of law and must be enforced.

[00:09:57]The timing of the verdict ahead of Bakrid and its Thiruparankundram backdrop is likely to sharpen political and communal debates. And now an update on the CBSE's controversial on-screen marking system. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took responsibility for the discrepancies related to the OSM evaluation process. He's also said that strict action would be taken against anyone found intentionally responsible for irregularities that affect students.

[00:10:26]The comments came at a meeting chaired by Pradhan with CBSE officials at the CBSE headquarters. They met to address technical and payment-related issues faced by students during the reevaluation and verification process.

[00:10:39]This comes after a major uproar by class 12 students over issues and discrepancies related to the OSM.

[00:10:46]In other education news, the National Testing Agency announced revised dates for the Common University Entrance Test 2026. The exam will now be conducted on May 31st, June 6th, and June 7th. The NTA said admit cards for candidates appearing for the May 31st test have been released and can be downloaded from their official website. Let's now turn to the Hindu roundup for some of our exclusive content. Today's editorial, titled Betrayal of Mandate, on the TVK and Tamil Nadu politics, takes a look at the trail of defections seen this week by AIADMK.

[00:11:21]The editorial argues that by accepting the four defecting AIADMK legislators, the TVK is following the BJP's political tactics. Essentially, this tactic encourages opposition legislatures to resign and join the ruling party using that as an opportunity to re-enter the assembly through by-elections. But, regardless of the legitimacy of this, the editorial says that this still follows the Ayaram Gayaram model of horse-trading. The AIADMK rebels who voted for the TVK during the trust vote resigned over intra-party concerns, which the speaker of accepted. But, the move came while petitions for the disqualifications were still pending with the speaker. The editorial argues that the TVK is wary of political checks and balances and appears to be preparing to push out challenging allies. This isn't the first time the TVK has used rival parties to get out of a crisis. We saw this with the Karur rally stampede.

[00:12:16]Our editorial argues that this Operation Lotus tactic, which was used by the BJP in Karnataka, is becoming increasingly familiar. It calls for amendments to election laws that could restrain candidates from contesting the immediate by-elections caused by their resignations. Otherwise, the editorial says this pattern will be seen as subverting the democratic process. Tap the card above to watch the editorial on The Hindu Originals YouTube channel. And in the latest episode of Talking Politics, The Hindu's political editor Nistula Hebbare unpacks the online satirical phenomenon that is the Cockroach Janata Party, [music] and whether its popularity is a warning sign for the BJP and opposition parties. Take a listen.

[00:13:00]>> A lot of this was a manufactured controversy, but the speed and the width of the support that the social media handles got shows that there was a bit of authenticity to that following. In any case, the leak of the NEET exam papers, the war in West Asia, rising inflation, looming economic slowdown, and an uncertain job market all coalesced into satire against the government on these issues with a very Gen Z coded language. The government first spoke of Dipkesh app antecedents to say that this was opposition sponsored.

[00:13:36]Then the social media accounts of the BJP were taken down on the request by the government and overreaction if there was one.

[00:13:43]>> And finally, emotional scenes unfolded as Kerala native Abdul Rahim returned home this morning after spending 20 years in a Saudi Arabian prison.

[00:13:53]Rahim has been imprisoned since 2006 in connection with the death of his employer's 14-year-old differently-abled son.

[00:14:00]Though he maintained that the death was an accident, a Saudi court sentenced him to death.

[00:14:05]The case saw a turning point in 2024 after Malayalis across the world raised nearly 35 crore rupees as blood money demanded by the victim's family through a crowdfunding campaign.

[00:14:18]The victim's family later agreed to withdraw the death sentence, leading a Saudi court to revoke the punishment.

[00:14:24]However, Rahim continued to serve a 20-year prison sentence under Saudi public rights law, which ended on midnight on May 19th. As he returned, a large number of people gathered including local residents, his family members, and neighbors. Rahim later, while addressing the media, thanked the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, the legal assistance committee, and the Malayali diaspora for standing by him throughout this legal battle.

[00:14:50]And that's it for today. Thank you so much for watching. Please share your thoughts on today's episode in the comment section. And if you found this video useful, don't forget to share it and save the above-the-fold playlist so that you never miss an update.