NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Congress is believed to have clinched the deal for Karnataka chief ministership Wednesday, with Siddaramaiah likely to take up the top job and state party chief DK Shivakumar being persuaded to be his deputy. An announcement is expected to be made Thursday.
With Shivakumar's insistence on being given the chance to run the government dominating deliberations for over three days, a meeting between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi via video conferencing late Wednesday evening is
learned to have hammered out a solution. AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala were also present.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have apparently been briefed about the formula in late-night meetings with Venugopal and Surjewala.
The solution to what had appeared to be a vexed issue suggests that the party can return to presenting a united face in the state where it swept out the ruling BJP with a thumping majority on Saturday. There may be a joint press conference of the two leaders after the legislature party meeting in Bengaluru on Thursday.
A resolution seemed unlikely till late evening, and Surjewala said the decision on the CM's post would be announced in "48-72 hours".
Split CM terms still on table, but DKS wants the first shot Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar met Rahul Gandhi separately on Wednesday morning. The latter also visited Kharge for what turned out to be an extended stay of around two hours, but it included lunch and interactions with other visitors. Shivakumar met Surjewala again in the evening following which top Congress office-bearers met late night, with reports of the the Gandhis, including Sonia, joining by video, as it appeared to be the last leg of the process. Late at night, Siddaramaiah went to meet party general secretaries KC Venugopal and Surjewala.
Sources said Shivakumar is being mollified to come around to accepting the party leadership's mind and to agree to be part of the government in which Siddaramaiah will be the head. The proposal of rotational CM is an option, but he apparently has been insisting on getting the first shot of two years, which is not acceptable to the leadership. He is being asked to become the deputy CM with good portfolios and continue as state chief. It was said one of the proposals was also that Siddaramaiah becomes the CM for the first three years and then becomes the PCC chief while Shivakumar takes over for the second part of the split term.
What triggered much drama through the day was news attributed to aides of Siddaramaiah or unsubstantiated leaks, that a decision had been taken in his favour. Rahul escorting Siddaramaiah to his car and wishing him well, while he was departing from 10 Janpath was seen as the latter having got the nod. An off-the-cuff remark by another in the inner circle was seen as an endorsement and led to jubilation in Siddaramaiah's camp. With supporters setting off fireworks, dancing and sloganeering, there were videos of celebrations on social media.
Both leaders have stayed back in Delhi, and the party may want to project them together when the decision is announced. "We are trying to ensure that there is a consensus between both factions and there is no heartburn among the two communities the leaders represent. Only then will we make the announcement," a party member said.
Congress also lashed out at "the fake news factory of BJP" for creating a misleading perception on the ongoing deliberations. Surjewala slammed news reports that Shivakumar, in his interaction with Kharge, had questioned Siddaramaiah's past record as political leader and had underlined that the party lost under his leadership in 2018. "The news is unfounded and baseless," he said.
Meanwhile, a fake letter from Karnataka government to governor Thaawarchand Gehlot communicating about the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday also went viral.