Siddaramaiah became the new Chief Minister of Karnataka after a string of meetings held by the Congress amid the suspense over the coveted post. The stalwart leader was in the race for the top post along with the party’s state unit chief DK Shivakumar. The decision finally came days after the Congress defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party and won 135 seats, whereas the saffron party only managed to win 66 seats. JD(S) was restricted to 19 seats.
According to ABP News sources, Siddaramaiah was chosen for the coveted post following strong support from the party MLAs and he also enjoys mass support from minority and tribal communities. Notably, he comes from the OBC community. His high amount of experience in Administration has also possibly turned things in his favour and gave him an edge over DK Shivakumar, who also played an instrumental role in helping the grand old party in ousting BJP from the state. Both the top CM contenders, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar met party leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar met with party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi separately. As per ABP News sources, during his meeting with Kharge, Shivakumar expressed his desire to run the state and opposed Siddaramaiah’s claim for the post saying it was because of the latter that the party lost Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and that their government fell in the state in 2020.
He targeted Siddaramaiah during the meeting saying it was because of him that the Congress lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and was unseated in Karnataka in 2020. On the other hand, shortly after Shivakumar left Kharge’s residence, Siddaramaiah visited the place and held a meeting with the party president. Later Siddaramaiah also met Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal.
Earlier in the day Rahul Gandhi also drove to Kharge’s residence and held a meeting for over 90 minutes. The two top party leaders discussed the issue of chief ministership and modalities of government formation in Karnataka. While the lobbying between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar for the post of chief minister in Karnataka continues, a third claimant has entered the contest.
As per a report by the news agency PTI, G Parameshwara on Tuesday said he was ready to take up the responsibility if the party high command asked him to run the government. He said that the high command was aware of his services to the party and that he did not feel the need to lobby for the post.