Siddaramaiah

Refuting the charge, AICC general secretary K.C.Venugopal said that the leaders of political parties have been invited. Both the national secretaries of CPI(M) and CPI are among the invitees.

Kanteerava Stadium, the venue of the swearing-in event, has seating capacity for more than 25,000 people. The authorities are planning to accommodate others in the playground. Siddaramaiah had taken oath in the same venue as the CM in 2013. Siddaramaiah will be taking oath as the Chief Minister while D.K. Shivakumar will be sworn-in as the Deputy CM at 12.30 p.m.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar both arrived in the national capital on Friday afternoon. Siddaramaiah, who is the LoP in the outgoing Assembly went to a hotel, while Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar went to his brother and party MP D.K. Suresh's residence.

The delay in announcing the name was due to the tussle between the two but it is learnt that it was UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who ultimately convinced Kanakapura MLA to accept the role of the Deputy Chief Minister.

The Congress on Thursday announced veteran party leader Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister while state unit chief DK Shivakumar was announced to be the only Deputy Chief Minister, with the swearing-in ceremony planned on May 20 afternoon in Bengaluru.

Addressing a press conference here at the party headquarters here, General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal along with Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala thanked the people of Karnataka for the "spectacular victory in favour of Congress".

The Congress high command is hopeful of somehow finding a solution during a meeting on Wednesday in New Delhi. Senior leader Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge will speak to Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, party sources stated.

Sudhakar had resigned as an MLA and joined BJP along with 17 others resulting in the collapse of the Congress and JD(S) coalition government in 2019. His statement assumes significance in the present political scenario, where crucial talks are being held in Delhi to declare the Chief Minister.

According to the sources, Siddaramaiah has the backing of more than 80 MLAs. The party high command, which had clarified from the beginning of making the candiddate who had the support of MLAs as the Chief Minister, is now in a difficult position as Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar is also vouching for the post.

Kharge has deputed former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Shinde, Jitendra Singh (Congress general secretary) and Deepak Babaria (former Congress general secretary) as the observers for the election of the CLP Leader of Karnataka. The CLP leaders are now returning to Delhi to submit their report to Kharge.