As the four-day impasse on the Karnataka chief minister post ended, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah met Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and staked claim to form government.
The meeting with governor came soon after a crucial meeting of the newly party MLAs elected Siddaramaiah as the Legislative Party leader on Thursday evening. KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, who had also lobbied hard for the coveted post, accompanied him to the Raj Bhavan.
Days after hectic deliberations over the formation of a new government in Karnataka, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) earlier approved Siddaramaiah as the CLP leader in Bengaluru. The meeting was called by the party’s state unit chief DK Shivakumar after senior leader Siddaramaiah was named as the next Chief Minister of Karnataka.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief has written to all the legislators, asking them to attend the meeting of newly-elected MLAs, MLCs and MPs at the Indira Gandhi Bhavan at 7 pm in Bengaluru.
Siddaramaiah will take oath as the chief minister and Shivakumar as his deputy at 12.30 pm on Saturday, the party announced on Thursday as the tense deadlock ended following prolonged parleys involving its central leadership.
“We have decided on Siddaramiah as the chief minister of Karnataka. D K Shivakumar will be the only deputy chief minister,” General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal said. The swearing-in will be held on May 20 at 12.30 pm, he added.
Siddharamaiah was the Chief Minister in 2013 also when the Congress had mustered a majority after 14 years since 1999. He went on to complete his term of five years, something only the Congress party’s late Devraj Urs had earlier done from 1972 to 1977.
Siddharamaiah had quit the JD (S) after the party supremo promoted his son HD Kumaraswamy over Siddharamaiah and the latter saw restricted chances for growth. He held three rallies to woo AHINDAS (SCs, OBCs, Muslims) and quit having proved his mettle.
After resigning his Assembly seat, he contested the by-election from the same Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket and won it. He was appointed as KPCC Publicity committee Chairman for the 2008 general election and strove hard to garner maximum votes in favour of the Congress. Again he was elected to the rechristened Varuna constituency in 2008.
The Congress high command chose him as Leader of the Congress Legislature Party and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and he performed his task effectively.
It should be mentioned here that Congress had emerged as the single largest party in Karnataka after winning the May 10 assembly election. It won 135 seats in the 224-member Karnataka assembly, while BJP managed 66 seats.
