DK Shivakumar, the leader of the Karnataka Congress and candidate for the position of state chief minister, met with Mallikarjun Kharge, the party's president, on Tuesday in New Delhi. According to sources, Shivakumar told Kharge that he wanted to be the next chief executive officer because he had assisted the party in the state in its efforts to recover after its government fell in 2019.
After the Congress won handily in the May 10 Assembly election, Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah arrived in New Delhi to meet with the party's leadership to discuss the formation of a government in Karnataka.
According to sources speaking with India Today, Shivakumar informed Kharge that Siddaramaiah had already been given the opportunity to become the chief minister and that it was now his turn. Additionally, he stated that if refused the CM chair, he would want to remain an MLA in the party.
Shivakumar reportedly informed Kharge that Siddaramaiah's term as chief minister was marked by "misrule" and that the Lingayats, a significant Karnataka community, were opposed to the former leader.
The UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi and the former party leader Rahul Gandhi would be consulted after the Congress head makes a decision regarding the next chief minister of Karnataka. At the moment, Sonia Gandhi is in Shimla.
The meeting of the party leaders was extended for more than five hours on Monday after Kharge received reports from all three observers for Karnataka.
In Karnataka, the opposition Congress won 135 seats while the governing BJP only managed to secure 66. The JD(S), which sought to exert influence, was downsized to 19 seats in the state.
