Politics: Siddu agrees to resign; DK Shivakumar to be next Karnataka CM
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Karnataka Congress chief and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar will replace incumbent Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister of the only major state where the Congress party is currently in power.
After hectic parleys and politicking, two-time Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, 77, also known as Siddu, will submit his resignation to Governor Thavar Chand Gehlot, who will rush back from his home state, Madhya Pradesh, to Bengaluru by Thursday evening.
After that, the Congress Legislature Party is likely to elect Shivakumar as the next leader, who may take the oath in a couple of days, the media reported.
With this, Shivkumar, the party’s chief troubleshooter for years, who had in recent months turned into a trouble-maker himself, will take the reigns of a key state after multiple ups and downs in his political career.
His proximity to the party’s top brass, particularly Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is believed to have strengthened his claim after a prolonged power struggle with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the last three years
For Shivakumar, 64, becoming Chief Minister is a dream now on the verge of fulfilment.
He had set his sights on the State’s top post soon after the Congress returned to power in the 2023 Assembly elections. He had been demanding the post, saying the party high command had ‘promised’ him that he will replace Siddaramaiah after two-and-and-a-half years as Chief Minister.
For a few days, the name of even Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was floated as the successor to Siddaramaiah. Kharge had for long been an aspirant for the post, before moved to Parliament and then became the party chief.
Siddaramaiah is a two-time Chief Minister of Karnataka. In his first term (2013–2018), he became the first Karnataka Chief Minister to do complete a five-year term in office, in the last 40 years. His second term began in May 2023 during which time he became the longest-serving Chief Minister of Karnataka.
He is now likely to move to the Rajya Sabha for which biennial elections have been annouced to fill the vacancies.
