Bengaluru, Dec. 3 -- If the menu on Saturday, November 29, was idli, and dosa, then on Tuesday, December 2, it was naati chicken and idli as Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar met at the latter's residence in Sadashivanagar in Bengaluru, and sought to present a picture of unity.

The second meeting in four days (the first was in the CM's house) came after months of reports about internal divisions in the state -- driven by Shivakumar's desire to be elevated to the top job, and Siddaramaiah's reluctance to make way. All of this played out amid talk of an agreement between the two leaders over power sharing after the 2023 assembly election, with each having a two-and-half year run. That mileston...