Amid hectic parleys in the national capital, Congress leaders have picked senior leader Siddaramaiah for the post of Karnataka chief minister, sources said on Wednesday. Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar, who has also staked claim to the top post, will not join the Cabinet, Congress sources added.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are in Delhi for the next round of talks, after earlier meetings with party president Mallikarjun Kharge failed to yield results.
Amid speculations about Shivakumar's role, sources said the KPCC chief will not join as deputy chief minister. He had earlier told Kharge that he was not willing to accept any other post, and will continue as an MLA if he is not given the CM post. Instead of Shivakumar, the party is mulling names of three senior leaders as deputy chief ministers—MB Patil, G Parameshwara and UT Khader representing the Lingayats. Scheduled Castes and Muslims respectively.
Patil, former home and water resources minister, was at the forefront of a campaign for the recognition of the Lingayat faith as a minority religion when the Congress was in power between 2013-18. He was chairman of the party's campaign committee for the assembly polls in which Congress registered a thumping victory with 135 seats.
Former state Congress president Parameshwara sprung a surprise on Tuesday and threw his hat in the ring for CM's post amid intense lobbying by Siddaramiah and DKS. Parameshwara was deputy chief minister during Congress-JDS coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy.
Khader, deputy opposition leader in last assembly, is a five-time MLA from Mangalore.
-with inputs from Soni Mishra
