After their poster wars and following lots of speculations, the Congress party, on Wednesday, May 17, finalized Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister of Karnataka with DK Shivakumar as his deputy. The decision was arrived at during a series of late-night discussions on Wednesday that lasted into the early hours of Thursday. The meetings were attended by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress General Secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala, and the two CM contenders.
Reportedly, a Congress legislative party meeting has also been scheduled for May 20, paving the way for Siddaramaiah to become CM for the second time.
As per media reports, Congress has decided on a rotational tenure of two-and-a-half years for both leaders, with Siddaramaiah taking the chair for the first half and then DK Shivakumar becoming the CM for the latter half.
Siddaramaiah apparently had the support of the majority of the Congress MLAs making party high command come down in his favor as the CM of the state.
Earlier, OpIndia had reported that after the Congress party’s victory in Karnataka assembly elections, the supporters of former CM Siddaramaiah put up a poster outside his residence in Bengaluru on May 14, calling him “the next CM of Karnataka.” Soon after, supporters of DK Shivakumar placed a poster outside his Bengaluru residence, demanding that he be declared “CM of the state.”
Unlike Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar has always been a member of Congress and has never lost an election since he won his first one in 1989. Siddaramaiah has been part of All India Progressive Janata Dal, Janata Dal, and Janata Dal (Secular) before joining Congress.
In the recently held Karnataka assembly elections, Congress won 135 seats pushing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power in the only southern state it ruled. BJP managed to win 66 seats. Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) bagged 19 seats. Independents have won two seats while Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each.