Siddaramaiah officially named Karnataka’s new Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday finally ended the long-standing suspense over who would be the next Karnataka chief minister, officially naming Siddaramaiah to lead the southern state. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader KC Venugopal said that Karnataka party president DK Shivakumar will be the deputy CM and his swearing-in ceremony will take place on May 20 in Bengaluru.

After reaching a consensus on government formation in Karnataka, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge along with other stakeholders reportedly held midnight meetings to work out a solution between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. Both the leaders were camping in the national capital and held several rounds of talks with top Congress leaders including Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi.

While 75-year-old Siddaramaiah was the CM of Karnataka from 2012 to 2018, 61-year-old Shivakumar has been a minister in the state and is currently the Karnataka Congress chief.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has been called by the party’s state unit chief Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Thursday evening. The verdict will be announced there. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief has written a letter to all the MLAs asking them to attend the meeting of newly elected MLAs, MLCs and MPs at Indira Gandhi Bhawan, Queen’s Road at 7 pm.

The Congress won 135 seats in the elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly held on May 10, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular) led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda won, respectively. 66 and secured 19 seats.

Celebration in Siddaramaiah’s native village

Celebrations broke out near Siddaramaiah’s residence in Bengaluru and his native village in Mysuru district on Thursday morning after it was revealed that he would be the next chief minister. As soon as the news of his taking oath as Chief Minister on May 20 came, his supporters raised slogans in his favor.

In fact, residents of Siddaramaiah’s native village were, in fact, jubilant since Wednesday itself after news of their leader becoming the chief minister again. Villagers burst crackers, raised slogans of Siddaramaiah and distributed sweets.

His brother Sidde Gowda was confident that Siddaramaiah would be chosen for the top post.

Siddaramaiah is guaranteed to become the Chief Minister. He has done good work for the people. He started the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme to provide free rice to the poor.