Karnataka CM post: It's same old story for the Congress yet again! The grand old party often finds itself at a crossroad post-state assembly elections. This happened in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and now, an almost similar story is being scripted in Karnataka where the party is in a dilemma to pick one out of two equally capable leaders for the top job.
Even after almost 48 hours, the suspense over the new Karnataka chief minister continues on Monday.
Here, events summed up in 10 points-
- Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar spoke up on his chances to become the chief minister but with very articulated and subtle words. "It's my birthday today, I'll meet my family. Afterward, I'll leave for Delhi. Under my leadership, we have 135 MLAs, all in one voice said-matter (to appoint CM) is to be left to the party high command. My aim was to deliver Karnataka and I did it," said Shivakumar. Shivakumar cancelled his visit to the national capital citing health issues. He sent his brother DK Suresh to Delhi to attend the high command's meeting.
- "Let's wait and see...I don't know...," said former Karnataka CM and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on being asked about how will the new Karnataka government look like and when will the CM announcement happen.
- The three central observers- Sushilkumar Shinde, Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria, who interacted with party MLAs on their choice for the CM's post after the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Sunday, briefed party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and submitted their report.
- After the meeting, Randeep Surjewala, AICC in-charge for Karnataka, told reporters that the party will announce its decision by Tuesday evening. "The observers have submitted the report to the Congress president. We will hold consultations with all senior state leaders, including Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, and after that a decision will be taken by the Congress president," he said.
- Former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were called by the party high command for further discussion on government formation.
- Siddaramaiah arrived this afternoon in the national capital but Shivakumar cancelled his visit, hours after confirming he would be flying to Delhi, fuelling speculation that the factional fighting in Karnataka Congress had reared its head again.
- The move by Shivakumar, seen by many as a "pressure tactic" to assert his claim on the top post, indicated that the leadership war in the southern state is far from over.
- They along with AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka and general secretary organisation KC Venugopal met Kharge and held discussions on the views expressed by the MLAs, the sources said.
- The deliberations in Delhi were preceded by intensive consultations, one-on-one interaction with MLAs and even a 'secret ballot' in Bengaluru during and after the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party.
- The CLP had on Sunday passed a resolution authorising party president Mallikarjun Kharge to decide on the chief ministerial nominee. Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have never hid their CM ambitions. Supporters of both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had raised slogans projecting them as the next chief minister outside the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on Sunday evening. A poster war by supporters of both leaders also erupted soon after the party won the election.
(With PTI inputs)
