Congress’ victory in Karnataka assembly elections has set up a challenge of selecting the new chief minister, with both state chief DK Shivakumar and senior leader Siddaramaiah eyeing the top spot. A team of observers appointed by Congress met with the newly-elected MLAs on Sunday to get their vote on who should be the next chief minister. The team will head to Delhi to hold discussions with the national leadership, which includes Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Rahul Gandhi. Both Mr. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are also expected in the national capital later today to meet the party’s leadership.
However, the final decision on the chief minister will be taken by Mr. Kharge, the party announced after the meeting of its Karnataka MLAs on Sunday evening. Congress General Secretaries Sushil Kumar Shinde, Deepak Babaria, and Jitendra Singh Alwar were the observers at the meeting. Supporters of both DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah shouted slogans outside the Bengaluru hotel where the meeting took place.
The Congress won a record 135 seats in the 224-member Karnataka assembly with a vote share of 43.76 percent, the highest in over 30 years. In the past, factionalism had been a challenge for the party, but it managed to put up a united front during the campaign phase with Mr. Kharge and the two CM hopefuls addressing the media and party workers together.
While the 60-year-old DK Shivakumar is considered to be a “troubleshooter” for the Congress, Siddaramaiah has a pan-Karnataka appeal. Both leaders have made no secret of their ambition to become the next chief minister and have been involved in a game of political one-upmanship in the past.
The BJP won only 66 seats, down from 104 in the 2018 state election, and failed to win a single seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Karnataka has 51 reserved constituencies, out of which 36 are for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates and 15 for ST candidates.
The new Karnataka chief minister and the cabinet will take oath on Thursday, according to sources. The decision on who will lead the state will be a crucial one for the Congress, as it looks to consolidate its position in the southern state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
