BENGALURU: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) will meet to elect its new leader, with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar widely expected to be chosen following the Congress high command's decision to name him as Siddaramaiah's successor.
The meeting will be chaired by outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the conference hall in Vidhana Soudha on Saturday at 4pm. The CLP secretary issued a circular in this regard on Friday.
Following the high command's instructions, Siddaramaiah had already declared Shivakumar as his successor, making his election as CLP leader largely a formality.
AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, the Congress floor leader in the Karnataka Legislative Council and minister NS Boseraju will also take part in the meeting.
The 136 Congress MLAs are expected to elect the CLP leader in line with the high command's directions.
After securing letters of support from the MLAs, the new CLP leader will meet the Governor to seek permission to form the new government and finalise a date for the swearing-in of the Council of Ministers.
According to sources, the swearing-in ceremony is likely to be held on Monday on the grand steps of Vidhana Soudha.
Meanwhile, both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar met the top Congress leaders in Delhi to discuss the transition of power, and formation of the new cabinet. Earlier in the day, Shivakumar also met other Congress leaders at a hotel in the national capital.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Shivakumar said discussions with the Congress high command were still underway and all party MLAs had been asked to remain present in Bengaluru for the meeting.
"Everything is happening as requested by the high command. Nothing has been decided. Tomorrow we have called the CLP meeting, our central leaders have to come. We have to discuss with our high command. We have asked all MLAs to be present in Bengaluru. Apart from that, nothing else is there," said Shivakumar.
The developments come after Siddaramaiah resigned as the chief minister on Thursday, ending days of intense speculation over a leadership change.
And on Friday, Siddaramaiah met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and other senior party in New Delhi to discuss the Karnataka cabinet reshuffle, Rajya Sabha elections and other organisational matters.
The meeting is seen as significance as the veteran leader has already declined a Rajya Sabha berth and expressed his preference to remain active in Karnataka rather than take up a role at the Centre.
Notably, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were locked in a keen contest for the chief minister's post after the Congress won the May 2023 Assembly elections. The party eventually persuaded Shivakumar to accept the post of deputy chief minister.
At the time, reports suggested a compromise under a "rotational chief minister formula", whereby Shivakumar would take over as chief minister after two-and-a-half years. However, neither the party nor the two leaders officially confirmed the arrangement.
(With additional inputs from PTI and ANI)