CLP leaves decision to AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge to select next Karnataka CM

“The Congress Legislature Party unanimously resolves that the AICC President is hereby authorised to appoint the new Leader of the Congress Legislature Party,” read the resolution.

The fight for the post of Karnataka Chief Minister was between two stalwart candidates, Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar.

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) had begun in Bengaluru to choose its new leader in the presence of three AICC observers led by former Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

The Congress had appointed three central observers, including senior leader Sushil Kumar Shinde. Besides Shinde, a former chief minister of Maharashtra, the other observers are party general secretary Jitendra Singh and former AICC general secretary Deepak Babaria. AICC general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said the central observers would oversee the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting.

The party has 135 MLAs of its own in the 224-member assembly, more than twice that of the BJP. The CLP is expected to adopt a one line resolution authorising the party high command to decide on the new leader.

While Siddaramaiah (75) and Shivakumar (60) have held meetings with the MLAs loyal to them, a poster war has erupted ahead of the CLP meet.

In the meantime, a huge number of supporters gathered outside the residence of Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Sunday and raised slogans of ‘We want DK Shivakumar as CM’.