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.
