HT has learnt that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge arrived at the consensus
for government formation shortly after midnight, this after hectic parleys held in the
national capital over the past three days.
Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar were the main architects of the
Congress victory in Karnataka.
A Congress legislative party meeting has also been convened for May 20,
setting stage for the 75-year-old Kuruba leader to become the CM for the
second time. In the run-up to the big announcement, both Siddaramaiah
and DK Shivakumar had been holding their ground before the high
command making it a tedious task to make the decision.
“There is nothing to tell...we have left it to the high command...High
command will take the call. I'm going for rest”, Shivakumar, 61, the tallest
Vokkaliga leader of the party in Karnataka, had said.
Earlier on Wednesday, HT had reported that Shivakumar had been offered
the deputy chief minister along with six portfolios. However, Congress
Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala had rejected the reports and
urged the media against speculation.
Siddaramaiah, a grassroots leader who started his political career with the
Janata Parivar, joined the Congress in 2006 after being ousted from HD
Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular). He is only the second chief minister
after Devraj Urs to have completed a full term of five years.
The anointment of the lawyer-turned-politician as the CM pick might not
surprise many as he apparently had the support of 85 MLAs as per a report
sent by the three Congress observers to the party high command.
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