Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, party general secretary Jitendra Singh and senior leader Deepak Babaria as observers for the election of Congress Legislative Party in Karnataka, General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal said on May 14.
The meeting of the newly-elected Congress MLAs in Karnataka is underway to discuss government formation with leaders eliciting their views on the chief ministerial candidate.
Sending out a clear signal for change, Karnataka voters decimated the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party and gave Congress an unambiguous mandate, with 135 seats in the 224-member Legislative Assembly.
The acid test for the Congress will now be to choose a Chief Minister, with both Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar publicly jockeying for the post in the run-up to the election.
Congress to discuss next step
The meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has been convened to discuss the next course of formation of the government, said sources in the party.
During the meeting, the leaders are also expected to elicit views of newly elected MLAs on the Chief Ministerial candidate, which is a key question the party has to wrestle with.
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Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mr. Shivakumar are strong claimants and front-runners for the coveted post.
‘Who will be Karnataka CM?’
Both the eight-time MLA Mr. Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have made no secret of their ambition to become CM and had been involved in a game of political one-upmanship in the past.
According to party sources, the opinion of newly elected legislators will be sought and depending on the outcome, they might be asked to vote to elect their leader, if need arises.
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Mr. Shivakumar has been openly expressing his Chief Ministerial aspirations at various events, especially the ones connected with Vokkaligas. He had asked the dominant community, to which he belongs, not to lose out an opportunity with him as the KPCC president, while pointing out that S.M. Krishna was the last Vokkaliga to lead the party in the polls and then went on to become the CM in 1999.
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In fact in this election, the Congress’ has significantly improved its electoral performance in the Vokkaliga-dominated Old Mysuru region (south Karnataka) and that credit largely goes to Mr. Shivakumar.
Also, there have been instances in the party that whoever has successfully led as KPCC President in election, have been the natural choice to be the CM, like in the case of Krishna and Veerendra Patil.
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Mr. Siddaramaiah, who has seniority on his side, is known for able administrative skills, and has the experience of having run a successful tenure as the Chief Minister. He also enjoys the distinction of having presented 13 budgets for the State.
Being a mass leader, he has considerable clout among the AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits). The mega 75th birthday bash of Mr. Siddaramaiah held last year in Davanagere, was largely seen as an attempt by him and his loyalists to project him as the future CM.
(With PTI inputs)
