CLP authorises Kharge to pick next K’taka CM

The Karnataka Congress on Sunday held its first legislative party meeting after winning the assembly polls, passing a briefly worded resolution authorising All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge to pick the next chief minister, even as supporters of the two main contenders — former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state president DK Shivakumar — shouted slogans outside the venue backing them.

Representatives of the party’s central command held separate meetings with both leaders, who worked together during the campaign, to thrash out a consensus with various options on the table, people familiar with the developments said.

“The Congress Legislature Party unanimously resolves that AICC President is hereby authorised to appoint the new Leader of the Congress Legislature Party,” said the one-line resolution passed after the meeting that was scheduled to start at 6pm but could only begin at 8.30pm as the newly elected legislators navigated through a crowd of supporters from each camp. Later, the MLAs were called individually after dinner to give their views if they so wished, said the people cited above.

“The announcement will happen by Tuesday,” said a senior aide of Kharge’s.

“The first meeting of the Congress legislative party passed two resolutions. The first was moved by KPCC president DK Shivakumar, which thanked the 6.5 crore voters of Karnataka. It was seconded by MB Patil. It was also endorsed by other senior Congress leaders. Then Siddaramaiah, the former chief minister, moved a single-line resolution authorising the Congress president to appoint a new leader of the Congress Legislative Party. The 135 Congress MLAs unanimously passed the resolution. This was seconded by DK Shivakumar and others,” said Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka. Surjewala later tweeted a picture with Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, showing that the leaders were united.

Kharge is expected to meet Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in Delhi on Monday before the decision is made, party insiders said, adding that the swearing-in is likely by May 18, to which all like-minded parties will be invited.

The party began the process of arriving at a consensus on Sunday morning, when Kharge announced the appointment of former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and party leaders Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria as observers for the election of the Congress legislative party leader in the state. Kharge, who travelled to Delhi in the morning, and was not present at the evening’s CLP meeting, told reporters, “Our observers will convey their opinion to the high command and a decision will be taken thereafter.”

A senior Karnataka-based legislator told HT that while the meeting was brief, general secretaries of the AICC KC Venugopal and Surjewala held a long closed-door meeting with Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar earlier in the day.

“The meeting was meant to discuss the options and come to a consensus. The meeting however came to the conclusion that the decision should be left to the party high command,” said the legislator, who didn’t want to be named.

MLA KJ George said a decision was taken to support “any and all” decisions by the party high command, but hinted at the future course of action that is set to dominate the state’s politics over the next few days. “The observers appointed by the party will hold one-on-one talks with each MLA and then inform the high command,” said the legislator from Sarvagnanagar.

Another legislator said even though several formulas were on the table, including the idea of splitting the five-year term between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, these were not mentioned at the meeting. To be sure, the splitting of the term has been part of the Congress conversation before, often unsuccessfully. In Chhattisgarh for instance, health minister TS Singhdeo has maintained that there was meant to be a shared leadership between him and chief minister Bhupesh Baghel after the party’s win in December 2018, with a change of guard never taking place, and causing friction in the party. Baghel has consistently denied such an arrangement was ever agreed to.

Earlier in the day, Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah separately attended meetings, seemingly aimed at strengthening their claims over the position. Shivakumar met the chief of the Siddaganga Mutt in Tumkur, a religious site of significance for the Lingayats, the largest in Karnataka. He emerged from that meeting and played down any differences with Siddaramaiah.

“Some people say that I have differences with Siddaramaiah, but I want to clarify that there is no difference between us. Many times I have sacrificed for the party and stood with Siddaramaiah ji. I have given cooperation to Siddaramaiah,” Shivakumar said.

He also recalled Sonia Gandhi visiting him in jail when he was imprisoned in a money-laundering case. “I had not done anything wrong for myself. Whatever I did was for the party. All my sufferings were for the party,” he said.

The Vokkaliga Sangha, a powerful body of the community that is the second largest in Karnataka, which Shivakumar hails from, also held a meeting of pontiffs where a unanimous decision was taken to request the Congress brass to name him chief minister.

“This programme has been organised to request all the seniors right from Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Siddaramaiah to give Shivakumar an opportunity to run the administration and serve the society,” Nirmalananda Natha Swamiji said.

Siddaramaiah also held meetings with some legislators on Sunday afternoon. A leader in the know of these developments said that two leaders close to the former CM had been making calls to other legislators to rally support.

“He has the support of a considerable number of MLAs. More meetings will take place,” the leader said on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Congress was further strengthened in the assembly after independent MLA Latha Mallikarjun, who won from Harapanahalli in Vijayanagara district, extended “unconditional support” to the party.

“Lata Mallikarjun, Independent MLA from Harpanhalli Assembly is the daughter of veteran Congress Leader and Ex Deputy CM, Late M.P. Prakash. She has extended unconditional support to the Congress Party in Karnataka considering her ideological roots and commitment to Congress ideals. I thank her, her husband Mallikarjun and all the supporters and well-wishers. We will serve the 6.5 Crore Kannadigas together,” Surjewala tweeted.