Karnataka: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar Likely To Share Terms As Chief Ministers

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Days of uncertainty ended on Wednesday night after the Congress decided that Siddaramaiah would be the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. The party decided that D K Shivakumar would be his deputy for the next two-and-a-half years.

The party took a call that the post would be on a rotational basis. The swearing-in ceremony will take place on May 20.

A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party will take place on Thursday, where Siddaramaiah will be elected the leader. The meeting has been convened by Shivakumar who is the party president in Karnataka.

With this decision, Siddaramaiah gets set to take over as chief minister of Karnataka for the second time.

Siddaramaiah is a grass-root level leader who began his political career with the Janata Parivar. He joined the Congress in 2006 after being ousted from the Janatal Dal (Secular). Incidentally he is the only chief minister of the state to have completed a five year term after Devraj Urs.

Sources say that picking Siddaramaiah is hardly surprising as he enjoyed the support of 85 of the 135 MLAs. The party had held a secret ballot a day after the results were declared on May 13. It is said that 85 had voted in favour of Siddaramaiah.

However convincing Shivakumar was not an easy job. He had made his intentions clear that he is the top contender for the post. He is also credited with leading the party to victory as the chief of the party in the state.