New Delhi: Siddaramaiah will be sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka though Congress is still taking its time to officially announce his name, informed sources in the party said on Wednesday. “The swearing-in was set to happen on Thursday but the same has been postponed for a day or two. The venue is Kanteerava Stadium Bengaluru. The new date will be finalised by tomorrow,” a senior AICC functionary told ETV Bharat.
The decision to make Siddaramaiah (a Kuruba) the chief minister was taken by the party chief Mallikarjun Kharge after much deliberations over the issue as there was a tough contest between the former chief minister and state unit chief DK Shivakumar for the top post. Congress, however, has not yet officially announced any names.
DKS (a Vokkaliga) may be the new deputy CM, said the sources, adding that one more person (a Dalit) could also be made deputy CM to balance out the caste equations in the southern state. The cabinet expansion would take place later on.
Over the past few days, both Siddaramaiah and DKS had reached Delhi, where they met Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi separately. On Wednesday, they both met Rahul Gandhi separately. Shivakumar met Gandhi after Siddaramaiah held a 30-minute meeting with the former party chief.
Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar would leave for Bengaluru soon, said the sources. The party insiders said that Siddaramaiah had the backing of most of the party MLAs and was chosen for the top post to deliver a stable government for the next five years and implement the party’s poll promises. Insiders further said that though Shivakumar is acknowledged as an excellent manager and was the choice of the state party organisation, the disproportionate assets case against him limited the chances of the Karnataka Congress chief.
According to sources, during his meeting with DKS, Kharge urged him to join the state government as a deputy CM with several key ministries and may allow him to retain his post of state unit chief. The party insiders said that Kharge needs both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to work as a team and win the maximum number of seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Karnataka elects 28 members to the lower house. DKS has already said that the party was like his mother and that he had set his eyes on LS Polls to win at least 20 seats from Karnataka.
While sources confirmed the decision to pick Siddaramaiah, officially the Congress is still indecisive. Speaking to the media over it, AICC in-charge of state Randeep Surjewala said the decision will likely come by Wednesday or Thursday and a new cabinet will be in place in the next 48-72 hours. Surjewala also asserted that Karnataka will have a five-year-long stable government and urged people not to believe in speculation and "fake news" which it alleged was being peddled by the BJP.
Addressing the media outside Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's 10 Rajaji Marg residence, Surjewala said the party chief has been authorised to appoint the leader of the legislature party and that is why deliberations are underway. "Do not resort to any speculation, whenever a decision is taken by the Congress president, we will be happy to inform you. I am only here to quash multiple rumours and hearsay...that are being played on multiple news channels. Please don't believe in it," Surjewala told reporters.
"It (the decision to name the CM) is a matter of today and tomorrow and we will have a leader of the legislature party. Within the next 48 to 72 hours, we will have a new cabinet in Karnataka and in the first cabinet meeting, we will implement the five Congress guarantees and begin the work of building grand Karnataka," Surjewala said.
Soon after the Karnataka results were out on May 13, in which the Congress registered a resounding victory by winning 135 out of 224 assembly seats, discussions over who would be the new chief minister had started in the party. The Congress chief, who had been camping in Bengaluru for the past month, held a quick meeting on May 13 night at his residence with both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. The next day, three AICC observers including former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, AICC general secretary Jitendra Singh and senior leader Deepak Babaria held a one-on-one meeting with the MLAs to ascertain their views over the CM choice.
The report submitted by the observers to Kharge indicated that Siddaramaiah had an edge over Shivakumar. Though the party leaders had been claiming that the disproportionate assets case against Shivakumar was not a concern as he had got bail, party insiders said that DKS would have been vulnerable if he was made the chief minister.
