Team News Riveting
New Delhi, May 18
Congress on Thursday formally announced that Siddharamaiah will be the next Chief Minister of Karnataka with state Congress Chief D K Shivakumar as his only deputy.
The Chief Minister will take oath on May 20, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal said while announcing the name of Siddharamaiah at the press conference today afternoon. Besides Shivakumar, 20 ministers are also likely to take oath.
“Congress is a democratic party and we believe in consensus, and not dictatorship,” Venugopal said, adding that after consulting senior leaders, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge took the decision to appoint Siddharamaiah as the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Karnataka. The meeting of CLP has been scheduled today evening in Bengaluru to endorse the decision, he added.
The party is learnt to have agreed to one deputy Chief Minister as asked by Shivakumar. “There will be only one deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar and he will also continue as the Karnataka State Congress President,” Venugopal added.
Following the development, Siddharamaiah has again emerged on top of the Karnataka politics having held sway since his entry to the Congress in 2006. Siddharamaiah was the Chief Minister in 2013 also when the Congress came to power with a majority after 14 years since 1999.
He went on to complete his term of five years, the only Congress Chief Minister to do so after the late Devraj Urs who remained in office from 1972 to 1977.
Siddharamaiah had quit the JD (S) after the party supremo H D Deve Gowda promoted his son HD Kumaraswamy. He saw restricted chances for growth in the party and did not falter to switch over to Congress.
