New Delhi: After a series of meetings in Delhi, Congress on Thursday announced that Siddaramaiah will be the next chief minister of Karnataka, while KPCC president DK Shivakumar will be his deputy. The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled on May 20 where other leaders are likely to be sworn in as ministers besides Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar.


In the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the Congress scored an emphatic victory by bagging 135 seats while the ruling BJP and the former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19 seats, respectively. 


The term of the outgoing Karnataka Assembly expires on May 24, 2023.


Apart from Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, who are being credited for the Congress’s victory in the state, several other party leaders have also made a mark with their spectacular victories in the recently concluded Karnataka assembly polls.


Here are eleven likely frontrunners for a Karnataka Cabinet minister’s post:


G Parameshwara 


The veteran Congress leader has served as the deputy chief minister during Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy. He was also the longest-serving Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief for eight years.



Parameshwara, who represents Koratagere in Tumakuru district, had lost the 2013 assembly polls, when he was KPCC president. He was a contender for the chief minister's post then, but as he was defeated, he was made an MLC and a minister in the Siddaramaiah government (2013-2018).


Along with DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, he was also an aspirant for both the posts of CM and DCM of Karnataka.


MB Patil


Former home and water resources minister, MB Patil, won from the Babaleshwar seat by a margin of 15,216 votes against BJP candidate Vijayakumar Patil.


Patil, a prominent Lingayat leader in the state, started his political journey in the year 1991 and successfully contested the assembly elections from Tikota. Following this, the Congress leader contested the Lok Sabha polls from Bijapur (now renamed as Vijayapura) and became an MP.


It was then in 2008 that he again contested the assembly polls from Babaleshwar. Since then, Patil has been representing the constituency.


KJ George 








KJ George secured his sixth victory from the Sarvagnanagar constituency in Bengaluru, garnering 1,18,783 votes. He contested against BJP's Padmanabha Reddy.








Priyank Kharge


Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge won from the Chittapur constituency by a margin of 13,638 votes, recording his third consecutive victory from the seat.


Priyank Kharge bagged 81,088 votes against 67,450 polled by his BJP rival Manikanta Rathod.


The Congress president’s son performed better this time compared to the 2018 assembly election when he defeated the BJP’s Valmik Naik by 4,393 votes.


Roopa Shashidhar


The former Union Minister K.H. Muniyappa's daughter Roopa won from the KGF seat garnering 81,569 votes, out of the 1,48,051 votes polled.


Eshwar Khandre


The Working President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Eshwar Khandre won the Bhalki seat by a margin of 27,706 votes against BJP candidate Prakash Khandre. He had previously won from the Bhalki constituency in 2008, 2013, and 2018.


Zameer Ahmed Khan


Former minister Zameer Khan won with a huge margin of 53,953 votes from the Chamrajpet seat, leaving behind BJP's Bhaskar Rao. He joined Congress in 2018, along with 6 other MLAs of the JD(S) party.


BR Reddy


Congress veteran Ramalinga Reddy retained his BTM Layout Assembly seat beating his nearest rival in the May 13 polls garnering 68,557 votes. BJP candidate KR Sridhara won 59,335 votes out of the 1,35,231 votes polled.


Tanveer Sait


Tanveer won for the sixth time from the Narasimharaja constituency, securing 83,480 votes against 52,360 polled by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rival Sandesh Swamy in the recently concluded Karnataka assembly polls.


Lakshman Savadi 


BJP turncoat Laxman Savadi, who joined Congress after being denied a ticket for the assembly polls, won from the VIP seat of Athani against BJP's Mahesh Kumathalli.


Savadi is a three-time MLA from Athani, but lost in the 2018 elections to Kumathalli (then in the Congress).


Krishna Byre Gowda








Krishna Byre Gowda, a 5-time MLA and former Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister, won from the Byatarayanapura Assembly seat. He secured 1,60,182 votes out of the total 2,94,274 votes, defeating his BJP rival, Thammesh Gowda HC, according to the Election Commission website.