New Delhi, Jun 2 (PTI) Karnataka chief minister-designate D K Shivakumar and his predecessor Siddaramaiah held deliberations with the top brass of the Congress on Tuesday on giving final shape to the new cabinet in the state.
Sources said Shivakumar will take oath along with a small new cabinet initially and expand it later. He will be sworn in on June 3 in Bengaluru, where former party chief Rahul Gandhi will be present.
Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah also met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi and held talks on the new cabinet formation. Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and AICC general secretary-in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala were also present.
The two Karnataka leaders are meeting Venugopal and Surjewala again to chalk out the finer details. Thereafter, a final meeting will be held later in the evening when a final shape will be given to the new cabinet, the sources said.
Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president, is scheduled to be sworn in as chief minister along with some members of the Council of Ministers at 4.05 pm on June 3 at the Lok Bhavan premises.
He was officially elected leader of the Congress Legislature Party in Karnataka on May 30.
Earlier in the day, Shivakumar expressed gratitude to the Gandhi family for their role in his political journey and thanked them for the faith they had placed in him at different stages of his life.
Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah arrived in the national capital on Monday to hold consultations with the Congress high command over the composition of the new state cabinet.
With Karnataka’s council of ministers capped at 34 — including the chief minister — and a swelling pool of aspirants vying for limited berths, Shivakumar faces one of his first and most consequential tests as chief minister-designate.
Aspirants have reached the national capital in numbers, with former ministers and legislators seeking audiences with both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah to press their claims.
Party sources indicate the new cabinet is likely to be a blend of familiar faces and fresh entrants, with careful attention paid to caste arithmetic, regional balance and loyalty equations — particularly towards the Siddaramaiah camp.
Speculation is rife that the new government could have multiple deputy chief ministers, including a Dalit. Among the frontrunners include G Parmeshwara and Priyank Kharge.
Sources add that Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and Kharge camps are pushing for their confidantes for a berth in the new cabinet.
Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra, who is an MLC, is also hopeful of a cabinet berth.
After meeting Shivakumar on Sunday, he had expressed confidence about a cabinet berth, saying the party high command has already assured him of a ministerial position.
Sources said the top Congress leaders are still pressing Siddaramaiah to take up a Rajya Sabha seat, even though the former chief minister has expressed his desire to remain active in the state and not take up a role in national politics.
Sources add that party leadership is also contemplating forming a joint coordination committee led by Siddaramaiah to ensure better and effective coordination between the party and the government in Karnataka.
The Delhi parleys were also expected to address the question of who succeeds Shivakumar as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president.
Senior MLA and former minister Satish Jarkiholi is said to be the frontrunner — though he is reportedly seeking a cabinet berth along with the organisational post, complicating the arithmetic further. ZMN
