After days of deliberation, Congress declared that senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah will be the next Chief Minister (CM) of Karnataka and DK Shivkumar will be his deputy CM.
Senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal made the announcement today at the party headquarters in Delhi. While addressing a press conference, KC Venugopal said that Siddaramaiah is an able administrator, and he has contributed a lot for the election, on the other hand DK Shivakumar who is a dynamic candidate. Both are big assets of the Congress in Karnataka. Both deserve to be CM. ‘Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had a one-to-one discussion with both and suggestions were taken from Sonia Gandhi and after that Congress President decided to make Siddaramaiah as the chief minister of Karnataka,’ he added. He thanked the people of Karnataka for the victory of the Congress and for standing by the party. He also said Shivakumar will continue as state Congress chief till the LS polls. AICC in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra laid the foundation of the party’s campaign in the state.
The Congress party has reached the decision with the two leaders agreeing to a rotational formula. Siddaramaiah will be the CM for a period of 2.5 years. After which, Shivakumar will be takeover as the CM. A meeting of the Congress legislature party in Karnataka would be held today evening to formally elect Siddaramaiah as the legislature party leader. The two leaders are expected to take oath along with other ministers on May 20 at the swearing-in ceremony. In the May 10 elections to the 224-member Assembly, the Congress scored an emphatic victory by bagging 135 seats.