Siddaramaiah will be CM, Shivakumar will be lone deputy, announces Congress

BENGALURU: The Congress on Thursday officially declared that Siddaramaiah will be the chief minister while KPCC president D K Shivakumar will be the lone deputy CM

“We have decided to make Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister of Karnataka and D K Shivakumar will be the only deputy CM and will continue as PCC president till the Parliament election is over”, party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal announced at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.

“We are having a CLP meeting in the evening at Bengaluru to formally elect the CLP leader. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 12.30 pm on May 20. Along with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, a group of ministers will also be sworn in that day”, he said.

Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal (right) and Randeep Singh Surjewala addressing a press conference in New Dehi on Thursday.

The Congress general secretary said, “We were trying for a consensus and Karnataka has good, dynamic leaders in the party. Siddaramaiah is an experienced, seniormost politician and able administrator. He has contributed a lot to the party in this election and tirelessly worked throught the state. Similarly, KPCC president D K Shivakumar, one of the dynamic party organisers, electrified the cadre and filled all gaps in the campaigning. It was a very good combination and both are big assets of the party in Karnataka”.

He also recalled that party president Mallikarjun Kharge had himself campaigned for a month and monitored the electioneering. The general secretary also thanked Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and said the Bharat Jodo Yatra had given the initial momentum to the party and its cadre.

Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, also praised Shivakumar’s electoral strategies and said the victory is of both the Congress and the people of Karnataka.