Siddaramaiah Is Next Karnataka CM, Shivakumar His Deputy

Siddaramaiah would be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of Karnataka while D K Shivakumar would be his deputy, the Congress has decided.

After much deliberation, the party took this call in Delhi and it had been decided that the swearing-in ceremony will be held on May 20.

The decision was taken after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge arrived at a consensus with both leaders.

Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have been in Delhi for the past couple of days during which they held discussions with senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi. Both leaders were in the race to become CM but the high command prevailed and took a final call on the matter.

Now Siddaramaiah will be elected as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party following which the Cabinet will be formed. The party had said on Wednesday that the Cabinet would be formed in the next 72 hours.

There is however no official word on whether the two leaders will share the term. It has been hard for the party to coax Shivakumar into agreeing to this arrangement.

Shivakumar wad offered the post of deputy and some ministries of his choice.

Meanwhile Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar has called for a meeting of the legislature party in Bengaluru at 7 pm today.

Meanwhile preparations got underway in Bengaluru for the swearing-in ceremony. Police personnel were seen at the Kanteerva Stadium taking stock of the situation.