India, Nov. 28 -- The simmering power struggle between Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy, DK Shivakumar, resurfaced sharply on Friday, dragging the Congress into yet another internal crisis after a year of electoral setbacks.

Speaking at an event in Bengaluru, Shivakumar made a pointed reference to Sonia Gandhi's 2004 decision to forgo the Prime Minister's post - a remark widely seen as a nudge to Siddaramaiah to honour the alleged post-election pact to share the Chief Minister's chair.

Even as he praised the current government and urged voters to re-elect the Congress in 2028, Shivakumar's comments revived the long-debated "2.5-year formula", the supposed agreement under which Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar would each s...