After days of un-certainity and rising speculations, Congress has officially announced Siddaramaiah will be the next chief minister of Karnataka with DK Shivakumar as his sole deputy.

Shivakumar who currently holds the charge as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) will continue his position until parliamentary elections next year, in addition to the new role he has been assigned.

The announcement was made by party general secretary- organization KC Venugopal in the afternoon today during a press briefing.

Venugopal while addressing the press said that the party has decided to make Siddaramaiah next Karnataka CM and DK Shivakumar will be the only deputy CM of the state while continuing his position as the PCC president until the general elections due next year.

A meeting of the newly elected legislators have been convened in Bengaluru in the evening today to formally elect their new leader, said Venugopal.

He added, the swearing-in ceremony of the the new government in waiting will take place on May 20, Saturday.

Before the announcement, Venugopal said they were trying to get into consensus over the past days after the results were out. Both Siddaramaiah DK Shivakumar have worked hard for the party and they are valuable assets for the party in the state and that both of them deserve the power. Venugopal said both are a good combination.

On the question of power sharing formula, Venugopal said the only formula is to share the power to the people of the state.

It is being speculated that the decision is being taken after both leaders agreed for a power sharing formula working on a rotational basis as the chief minister.

The speculations were raised after Shivakumar this morning while speaking to a private TV channel on asked about the agreement of power sharing formula replied smiling why not to agree and sometimes the ice has to break.

The decision was finalized in the wee hours of Thursday morning itself after party president held a long series of closed door meetings before reaching to the final decision, as claimed by reports.

On Thursday, throwing a major surprise, the union cabinet reshuffled dropping Kiren Rijiju as the Minister of Law and Justice and was appointed as Minister of Earth Sciences.

Union cabinet minister Arjun Ram Meghawal has been assigned the law ministry as the MoS(Independent in-charge).

Meghwal is the current Minister of state for Parliamentary affairs and Culture in the Narendra Modi led government at the center. Law ministry is an addition to his existing portfolios.

The announcement was a made after a press statement was released by the Rasthrapati Bhavan.

The statement read that the President of India has taken the decision to direct the reallocation of portfolios among Ministers in the Union Cabinet after advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The decision comes after tensions between Rijiju and the Supreme Court Collegium surfaced over his objection to electing of judges through voting.

Minutes, after the announcement of reshuffle was made Rijiju changed his Twitter bio.

Rijiju held the charge of Union Law Ministry since July 8, 2021 when he replaced Ravi Shankar Prasad.

He earlier assumed portfolio of the Ministry of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports from May 2019 to July 2021. He also served as the Minister of State for Minority Affairs during this period. 

Rijiju is a Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal West constituency who also served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs (India) in the first Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2019. 

Arjun Ram Meghwal, a senior leader of the BJP from Rajasthan, formerly served as the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, is an MP from Bikaner, Rajasthan, who first got elected in 2009.

The decision of allocating the heavy Law Ministry portfolio to Meghwal is being seen as a move taken keeping the Rajasthan elections in view that is due in the end of this year.

After four days of impasse over the decision of the next chief minister of Karnataka, finally early on Thursday morning the decision was finalized, reports surface.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah has been finalized as the next chief minister of Karnataka with DK Shivakumar as his sole deputy, claim reports.

The decision came after a series of meetings late on Wednesday night.

Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge who has been holding a parlay of meetings since the party’s victory last Saturday, is said to have taken the final decision.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, Kharge finally breaking the political deadlock between the senior-most leaders of Karnataka, came into a consensus to name Siddaramaiah as the state’s chief minister, while giving the deputy cm’s post to Shivakumar, claimed reports.

No official communication has been made yet from the Congress’s side.

Reports said , DKS has convened a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting at around 7 PM in Bengaluru today, where he will propose Siddaramaiah’s name as the new CLP leader. An official confirmation is expected after the CLP meet.

As per reports, the early morning meeting on Thursday was chaired by Mallikarjun Kharge, which was attended by Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, general secretary(organization) KC Venugopal and both the aspirants for the CM Post.

The Congress has also finalized the date for the oath taking ceremony scheduled for 20 May, Saturday. The ceremony is to be held at Kanteerava stadium in Bengaluru in the presence of senior Congress leadership and the party’s chief ministers of other states, said reports.

Mallikarjun Kharge is also reportedly to invite leaders from various opposition parties as to show the strength of opposition unity.

Earlier to the decision of DKS as the sole deputy, it was being said that there will be three deputy chief ministers in the state with one each from the Linagayat, Muslim and Dalit community of the state.