India, July 12 -- A day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah firmly ruled out any possibility of a leadership change, his deputy D K Shivakumar made a cryptic comment that has reignited political chatter around the Congress's power-sharing dynamics in the state.

Speaking at the Kempegowda Jayanti celebrations hosted by the Bangalore Bar Association on Friday, Shivakumar made a statement loaded with metaphor, "There are so many chairs, come and sit. It is difficult to find a chair. When you find a chair, you have to come and sit on the raft. If you look at yourself, you look like tyagis."

Though directed at lawyers attending the event, the remark has been widely interpreted as a subtle political message, given its timing and conte...