The Congress legislature party meeting began here at Vidhana Soudha on Saturday to elect its new leader, who will succeed Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister of Karnataka.
State Congress President D K Shivakumar, who served as Deputy CM under Siddaramaiah, is widely expected to be elected as the new CLP leader, party sources said.
In the meeting overseen by AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala, outgoing chief minister Siddaramaiah is likely to propose Shivakumar's name as the new leader of the legislature party.
Shivakumar met Venugopal and Surjewala at a hotel here ahead of the meeting.
The swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Minister will be held on June 3 at the Glass House of Lok Bhavan here, said Congress state unit working president G C Chandrashekhar on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference here, the Rajya Sabha member said, initially, there was confusion regarding the venue.
Later, it was decided to hold it in the Governor's House.
"A decision has now been taken that the swearing-in ceremony will be held on June 3," Chandrashekhar said.
The MP said the exact time of oath taking ceremony will be finalised and announced later in the day.
"The swearing-in ceremony on the 3rd will take place at the Glass House in Lok Bhavan," he pointed out.
According to him, there were discussions on booking around 10,000 to 15,000 buses from different parts of the state to bring people to Bengaluru for a large-scale event, but keeping the fuel crisis and the traffic congestion in mind it was cancelled.
"The swearing-in ceremony should not be extravagant. It should be conducted as simply as possible and should reflect a spirit of work and service rather than display or pomp. The party has taken a decision and issued directions that the event should be conducted in a simple manner," Chandrashekhar said.
He appealed to all party workers and supporters not to make efforts to rush to the venue and cooperate, so that there is no traffic congestion and no inconvenience to the public.
Siddaramaiah's resignation as Chief Minister was accepted and the Council of Ministers was dissolved by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Friday.
All Congress legislators have been asked to attend the CLP meeting at 4 pm in Vidhana Soudha's conference hall, which will be overseen by Venugopal and Surjewala.
According to sources, Siddaramaiah himself will propose Shivakumar as the new CLP leader, or a one-line resolution may be passed authorising the Congress high command to choose the next leader.
Earlier in the day, Shivakumar met Governor Gehlot at Lok Bhavan here.
Sources said Shivakumar met the Governor to informally discuss the swearing-in of the new CM and the Council of Ministers, including the dates for it.
Subsequently, he also visited the Bengaluru unit of Sri Kadasiddeshwara Mutt (often referred to as the Ajjaiah Math).
Shivakumar has a deep, long-standing spiritual connection to the Math, which is actually located in Nonavinakere, Tumakuru district.
