CM logjam over, cabinet formation next big hurdle for Siddaramaiah

For the wily politician, the hard-earned contest for the hot seat of chief minister may be over, but a few hurdles remain. Keeping the flock together and ensuring better governance than the previous Bommai government are two topmost priorities for Siddramaiah at present.

Hyderabad/Bengaluru:Siddaramaiah, who is going to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka, will have many challenges in front of him, including cabinet formation, allocation of portfolios and fulfilling the five 'guarantees'.

Along with all these responsibilities, Shivakumar will also have to be taken along by Siddaramaiah. For the wily politician, the hard-earned contest for the hot seat of chief minister may be over, but a few hurdles remain. Keeping the flock together and ensuring better governance than the previous Bommai government are two topmost priorities for Siddramaiah at present.

The first challenge before Siddaramaiah after taking oath on May 20 is to form a cabinet that can accommodate the new and old generations of legislators, apart from all communities, regions and factions. The Karnataka cabinet can have a maximum of 34 ministers and with many MLAs aspiring to become ministers, Siddaramaiah will have a tough task in his hands.

According to party sources, with all major communities which supported the party in a big way in the assembly elections held on May 10, naturally, each one would have aspirations and Siddaramaiah's challenge would be to take everyone along. The Congress top brass reportedly faced a tough time convincing DK Shivakumar to relent. However, the central leadership of the Congress has made it clear that only Shivakumar will be the Deputy Chief Minister.

Barely days ago, senior Congress leader G Parameshwara warned the party's central leadership that if the deputy chief minister's post was not given to a Dalit, there would be an adverse reaction and the party would be in trouble.

"I was an aspirant for both the posts of the f minister and deputy chief minister, but now we have to follow the decision of the high command, so it remains to be seen what they will do in the coming days. As of now they have announced for two and We will have to watch and wait how he will do justice during the cabinet expansion."

Others, including 39 Lingayat MLAs, 21 Vokkaligas, 22 Scheduled Castes, 15 Scheduled Tribes, nine Muslim and eight Kuruba MLAs, are demanding a prominent role in the Karnataka cabinet.

In the elections held on May 10 to the 224-member assembly in the state, the Congress won 135 seats, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) won 66 seats and 19 seats respectively.

Several top Congress leaders from party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were involved in hectic parleys with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar which finally helped to break the logjam over the top post in Karnataka. For now, preparations for swearning-in ceremony takes the centrestage for the Congress.

Ahead of the oath-taking ceremony in Karnataka, Chief Minister designate Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar arrived in the national capital to meet the senior leaders of the Congress.

"We have come to meet our leaders, Rahul Ji, Sonia Ji, Priyanka Ji, and Kharge Ji to invite our leaders for tomorrow. They had come and given their sweat and proper directions. So, I wanted to invite them personally. Later, we are discussing the cabinet formation," Shivakumar told reporters in New Delhi.