The strife within the ruling Karnataka Congress has intensified with an organisation representing backward classes and minorities that supports chief minister Siddaramaiah warning of a statewide agitation if he is replaced.

Calls for power sharing among top Congress leaders are growing louder, with prominent seers backing members of their respective communities.

Prabhulinga Doddamani, state president of Ahinda — which represents minorities, OBCs and Dalits — has cautioned against any attempts to replace Siddaramaiah, insisting he should be allowed to complete his five-year term.

“The Congress will lose its base and very existence if he is replaced. We will launch an agitation if he is removed,” Doddamani told reporters in Hubballi on Sunday.

The power skirmishes within the party have escalated with Kumara Chandrashekaranatha Swami, leader of the Vishwa Vokkaligara Mahasamsthana Mutt, demanding that deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is from his community, be made the chief minister. A Lingayat seer too has sought the top post for someone from his community and suggested the names of a few senior Congress leaders.

Several Congress leaders have called for increasing the number of deputy chief ministers to three, a move seen as an attempt to diminish Shivakumar’s influence.

Shivakumar, who heads the state Congress, has asked party leaders to stop making public demands for leadership changes and additional deputy chief ministers, warning of action by the party high command if they ignore his directive.

Home minister G. Parameshwara has openly supported the demand to change the state Congress president, arguing that Shivakumar is overburdened as the sole deputy chief minister handling major portfolios such as Bengaluru development and water resources.