Karnataka CM News: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar Meet Guv to Stake Claim to Form Govt

BJP leader and former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has congratulated Siddaramaiah on being chosen as the CM of Karnataka.

Karnataka Chief Minister-designate Siddaramaiah has been elected as Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader during a meeting where Deputy CM-designate DK Shivakumar proposed his name. Many other leaders, inclsuing Dr Parameshwara, HK Patil Deshpande, MB Patil, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Tanveer Sait and HK Muniyappa, also supported the proposal.

Speaking to the media, Karnataka Congress leader Ramesh Babu was quoted as saying by ANI, “We are meeting the Governor at 8.30 pm under the leadership of KPCC president DK Shivakumar. We have taken the appointment. Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and other leaders of the party will accompany the 20-member delegation.”

Karnataka Chief Minister-designate Siddaramaiah and his Deputy DK Shivakumar today arrived at the party office in Bengaluru for Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting.

“There are two reasons why the Congress is strong in Karnataka – one is its organisation and the other is that it has a mass leader in Siddaramaiah,” a senior BJP leader told News18 last month in the middle of the hectic Karnataka campaign. When we cited this anecdote to Siddaramaiah in a subsequent meeting, he just smiled and said, “For once, the BJP is right.” Read More

For the swearing-in ceremony of the Karnataka Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, the state Congress has extended invitations to party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik have also been invited as guests to attend the oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru on May 20 at 12:30 pm.

Two police personnel including Puttur rural Sub Inspector Srinath Reddy have been suspended in connection with the case of police atrocities on two youths who were accused of putting up defamatory banner against BJP leaders Nalin Kumar Kateel and DV Sadananda Gowda after the party’s poll debacle in Puttur. The banner with a garland of slippers was put up at Puttur “paying homage to Kateel and Gowda who were allegedly responsible” for the party’s defeat in Puttur assembly constituency. Nine youths were arrested by police in connection with the case. Two of them were tortured in custody the visuals of which went viral on social media, news agency PTI reported.

Siddaramaiah will be the next chief minister of Karnataka, while DK Shivakumar will be the deputy chief minister, top sources close to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge have told News18, seemingly ending the deadlock that had eclipsed the party’s grand victory in the southern state. The option of rotational chief minister has also been put on the table, the sources said. Read More

Siddaramaiah may have got his wrong finger inked on polling day, but his finger is clearly on the pulse of the people of Karnataka who voted the Congress back to power in this southern state with 136 seats. “Anybody can contest from Varuna (Siddaramaiah’s seat), but the winner will always be my brother. He is very popular. He has been a chief minister once before and administered the state well. I would be thrilled to see him at Vidhan Soudha as a chief minister again,” the Congress leader and CM-designate’s brother Siddegowda said with confidence to News18 just days before Karnataka voted. Read More

The Congress may have finally resolved the power tussle between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar by handing over the Karnataka chief minister’s crown to the former, there is no denying that convincing Shivakumar was not all that simple. It not only took efforts from Sonia Gandhi — whom DKS often refers to as his ‘mother figure’ — to ask him to back down and allow Siddaramaiah to take over until he clears all the pending IT and ED cases against him but the Karnataka Congress chief was also in constant touch with his ‘political jyotishi’ (astrologer) Vellore Shankaranarayana Dwarakanath Guruji, popularly known as Dwarakanath Guruji. Read More

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka CM designate Siddaramaiah & his Deputy DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru on May 20.

Gearing up for May 20’s swearing-in ceremony, an elated Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was captured on camera lifting hands of Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah and his to-be deputy DK Shivakumar. While grand old party leader Randeep Surjewala captioned the photo “The winning team! #Karnataka”, the picture was shared on multiple handles of the Congress party. Read More

Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah, along with other leaders of the party including MB Patil, arrive at the Delhi airport as they leave for Bengaluru.

A Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting has been called in Bengaluru at 7pm today.

For the unversed, Siddaramaiah has been chosen as the next chief minister of Karnataka, while DK Shivakumar will be his deputy.

Preparations are underway at Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium where swearing-in ceremony of the new Karnataka government will take place on May 20.

In a tweet on Thursday, BJP leader Amit Malviya cticised Congress’s selection for the chief minister’s post. He wrote: “For the first time, Karnataka will have a Govt, which doesn’t represent either sub-regional aspirations or for that matter prominent communities.”

“Both, CM designate Siddaramaiah and to be Deputy CM DKS, come from South Karnataka. For the first time there will be no representation from the all powerful Lingayat community or the SCs. The Congress has intentionally left out MB Patil and Dr G Parameshwara, both of who could well have well been made DCMs. Congress is hell bent on humiliating both these senior leaders and their communities,” added the leader.

He went on to add that “in the end corruption wins”.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter and posted a timeline of sorts mentioning the number of days BJP has taken to announce the CM name after winning elections in several states.

Mentioning UP, Assam and Uttarakhand, Jairam Ramesh wrote BJP took eight, seven and 11 days, respectively, in these states to announce the CM name, while Congress did so for Karnataka in just three days after “intensive and extensive process of consultations completely alien to the BJP.”

DK Shivakumar told News18 that “everything is well in Congress party”. Rahul Gandhi called me and said we have to work together,” Shivakumar said after accepting the post of deputy chief minister of Karnataka.

Karnataka Deputy CM designate DK Shivakumar took to Twitter and shared a photo of him with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Siddaramaiah, who is set to take oath as CM.

“Karnataka’s secure future and our people’s welfare is our top priority, and we are united in guaranteeing that,” Shivakumar tweeted.

Reacting to a question on the power-sharing formula in Karnataka, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said the only power-sharing that will happen is sharing of power with the people and nothing else, making it clear that Siddaramaiah will be the CM for five years.

“Our only formula is the service of people. Whoever wants to serve the people can do so, as much as they want. All our allies will be invited [to the oath-taking ceremony]. This is not a celebration but Congress’s dedication to democracy…those who want to fight for democracy and save the Constitution, can attend the event…”: said Randeep Singh Surjewala, AICC in-charge of Karnataka.

Congress, in a press conference, officially announced that Siddaramaiah will be the next chief minister of Karnataka, while DK Shivakumar will be the “only” deputy CM and will also continue as the state party unit chief for Lok Sabha election that are slated to take place in 2024.