Supporters of senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah celebrate outside his residence, in Bengaluru, Wednesday, May 17, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Ending days of uncertainty and speculation, the Congress is all set to name Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister of Karnataka, according to high-level Congress sources.
Karnataka Congress chief, D.K.Shivakumar, who was insistent on getting the top job, will be the Deputy Chief Minister.
Their swearing in will take place on May 20.
With both Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar insisting on the top job, government formation was deadlocked and reportedly took the intervention of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to resolve it.
The formal announcement is likely to be made at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Bengaluru at 7pm.
Through the day, there were back-to back meetings between Mr. Shivakumar and senior party leaders Randeep Surjewala and K.C. Venugopal.
The final breakthrough was achieved well past midnight at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence.
“D. K. Shivakumar has made a scarifies for the sake of the party and the Gandhi family,”a source close to Mr. Shivakumar told The Hindu.
Though the details of the peace formula has not been made public, the Shivakumar camp claimed that he will continue as the Karnataka Congress chief along with the Deputy Chief Minister’s post and the chief ministership will be rotated.
There is, however, no official word on any of these claims from the Congress central leadership.