Who will rule the throne?
Siddaramaiah will be the new chief minister of Karnataka, with DK Shivakumar as his deputy, according to Congress sources on Thursday, after the party reached an agreement on government formation in the state following frantic negotiations.
According to sources, the swearing-in event will take place on May 20 at around noon in Bengaluru.
They said that Congress chairman Mallikarjun Kharge and other stakeholders met into midnight to try to reach an agreement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, the two chief ministerial hopefuls.
“It has been decided by consensus that Siddaramaiah will be the next chief minister and Shivakumar will be the deputy chief minister,” a Congress source said.
Sources said the party leadership also decided to have around 20-25 new ministers.
Shivakumar, the state unit president of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP), has summoned a meeting in Bengaluru on Thursday evening. The decision will be made there.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president has written to all legislators, inviting them to a gathering of newly-elected MLAs, MLCs, and MPs on Queen’s Road at 7 p.m.
Sources close to Shivakumar said he decided to make the “sacrifice” and agreed to be deputy chief minister in the interest of the party.
Hectic meetings were held on Wednesday to break the deadlock in deciding on the Congress’ chief ministerial pick in Karnataka, with both candidates presenting their cases before the party’s senior brass, despite the party’s assertion that a resolution is imminent within a day or two.
Both Shivakumar and Siddaramiah had been camped in Delhi and had met with the party’s high hierarchy multiple times.
Sources said Shivakumar finally agreed to be deputy CM after holding late night parleys with Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal and AICC general secretary in-charge of state Randeep Surjewala.
Surjewala and Venugopal had met Kharge and held detailed discussions on Wednesday evening.
Siddaramaiah, 75, was Karnataka CM from 2012 to 2018. Shivakumar, 61, has been a minister in the state and is currently the Karnataka Congress chief.
In the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the Congress scored an emphatic victory by bagging 135 seats while the ruling BJP and the former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19 seats, respectively.
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