Bengaluru, 17 Feb

Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa asked if the “tail wags the dog”, a jab at Congress legislators attempting to pressure the High Command into making Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar the Chief Minister.

Speaking in Mysuru, Mahadevappa dismissed speculation about a change in guard by invoking a High Court observation on stray dogs.

“The High Court says time and again to catch stray dogs and confine them," he told press in Mysuru on Tuesday. "Who can give direction to the party High Command? Can you and me direct it? It's they who can give us direction and not the other way round. What if tail wags the dog?"

Mahadevappa is considered close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Shivakumar told press in Bengaluru that he doesn’t want to comment on the statements.

“It is a decision taken by me, Siddaramaiah and the party High Command. Time will answer what the decision was. There is nothing hidden in this dealing. Siddaramaiah himself will answer the people when the time comes,” he added.

Shivakumar’s brother, DK Suresh, said that: "Devout Congress leaders are not stray canines but honest dogs. They never ditch those who favoured them. They clear the debts of their master."

Meanwhile, Congress MLC BK Hariprasad likened Shivakumar to a railway engine. "Shivakumar is like the engine taking along the entire train but when it reaches a destination, he makes lots of noise and rouses vendors over there," he said.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy quipped that: “Congress leaders like dogs very much.”