In its first meeting after the announcement of results, the Congress Legislature party unanimously passed a resolution to authorise All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge to choose the new leader of the party. The decision came shortly after all the 136 newly elected legislators gathered at Shangri-La hotel in Bengaluru on the evening of Sunday, May 14 for the meeting.
The two strong contenders for the post of Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar have been summoned to Delhi on May 15.
The meeting in the evening was preceded by massive celebrations and demands from supporters of both sides. Even seers from Vokkaliga community resorted to lobbying for Shivakumar for the CM post, with two seers Nirmalanandanatha swami and Nanjavadhoota swami expressing the community’s wish to see Shivakumar as CM as they felt he was responsible for Congress winning 70 to 80 seats.
The legislators were spoken to individually to seek their opinion and the observers will convey this to the AICC president to help him make the decision, sources in the meeting confirmed.