NEW DELHI/ BENGALURU, May 18: The Congress today named Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister of Karnataka and state PCC chief D K Shivakumar, a strong contender for the top post, as his only deputy, ending the tense deadlock after prolonged parleys involving its central leadership.
Siddaramaiah met Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to stake claim to form the Government shortly after the nine-time MLA was formally elected the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Karnataka at a meeting of the newly elected party MLAs at Indira Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru on Thursday night.
He will become the Chief Minister for the second time after his earlier five-year stint from 2013.
Siddaramaiah, 75, and Shivakumar, 61, will take oath of office on May 20, according to party General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, even as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge invited leaders of several like-minded parties for the swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru. The event may turn out to be a show of strength for opposition parties amid unity efforts to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Senior party leader and in-charge for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala said Shivakumar moved a resolution to elect Siddaramaiah as the new CLP leader. All the members of the CLP endorsed the resolution unanimously, he added.
After four days of intense wrangling for the top post, a solution was hammered out at a fresh round of discussions in Delhi that went on till the early hours of Thursday.
Announcing the decision taken by Kharge, Venugopal said all leaders, including the top leadership, worked very hard to make the Karnataka victory a reality.
“We have decided on Siddaramaiah as the chief minister of Karnataka. D K Shivakumar will be the only Deputy CM,” he told reporters, as the two leaders, who were frontrunners for the CM’s post, presented their cases vigorously before the top brass after the Congress’ stunning comeback to oust BJP from its lone southern citadel on May 13.
Shivakumar will also continue as the party’s Karnataka state president till Parliamentary elections are over, he added. The next Lok Sabha elections are due in the first half of next year.
Venugopal said the swearing-in ceremony will be held on May 20 at 12.30 PM.
Hours after the party announcement, another senior Congress leader G Parameshwara cautioned the party’s central leadership that if a Deputy Chief Minister post is not given to a Dalit, there would be an adverse reaction and it would spell trouble for the party. The 71-year-old Parameshwara, a Dalit, was a deputy chief minister in the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy.
Surjewala said the Congress party is committed to fulfil the five promises that were made during the elections and action would be taken on them in the first meeting of the cabinet.
Kharge has invited Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. Invitations have also been sent to National Conference(NC) chief Farooq Abdullah.
Nitish Kumar will attend the swearing-in of the Congress Government in Karnataka, JD(U) spokesperson Rajib Ranjan said.
Kharge also sent an invitation to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the JMM leader is likely to attend the ceremony.
Siddaramaiah, a Kuruba — the third largest caste in Karnataka — has positioned himself as a backward classes leader by spearheading the AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) combination.
Siddaramiah’s supporters broke into celebrations in Bengaluru and at his native village in Mysuru district.
The residents of Siddaramanahundi, the native village of Siddaramaiah were, in fact, jubilant since Wednesday following reports that their leader would become the Chief Minister again. They burst crackers, raised slogans hailing Siddaramaiah and distributed sweets. (PTI)
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