Siddaramaiah's open challenge came amidst ongoing parleys for the third day between him and top leaders attempting to effect a patch-up between him and Chief Minister J H Patel.

The falling-out of the two leaders came in the wake of the induction of six new ministers by Patel on June 14 with his deputy taking umbrage at the fact that he was not consulted. At a meeting with national party president S R Bommai, Siddaramaiah is reported to have stuck to his demand for a change in leadership. Bommai for his part, is said to have told Siddaramaiah that any demand of his except that of a leadership change, would be acceptable.

Senior partymen however believe the issue may not come to a show of strength between the two leaders at a JDLP meeting as demanded by Siddaramaiah. The differences between the two leaders, they say, aretherefore likely to be sorted out within a day or two.