Race for Karnataka CM post: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar meet Congress chief Kharge

Karnataka Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar on Tuesday met party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence here separately and discussed the modalities of government formation in the southern state.

Shivakumar, who arrived in the national capital this morning from Bengaluru, reached Kharge's residence a little after 5 pm and held deliberations over the post of chief minister of Karnataka.

He left after a 30-minute meeting and did not speak to the media.

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Soon after Shivakumar left, Siddaramaiah arrived at Kharge's residence at 10, Rajaji Marg after 6 pm, and the two leaders held discussions on the top post.

Both Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah have staked their claim for the top post after the party staged a stunning victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls by winning 135 out of 224 seats.

Supporters of both the leaders are indulging in hectic lobbying in support of their leaders.

The newly-elected MLAs in Karnataka have already passed a one-line resolution authorising party chief Kharge to appoint the legislature party leader, who will be the new chief minister.

Kharge had earlier appointed three central observers for the meeting of the Congress legislature party in Bengaluru and they have already submitted their report to him and discussed the same.

The observers had met all Congress MLAs individually and sought their views on who would be their choice of chief minister. They also held a secret ballot which was compiled and the results were conveyed to the party chief.

Kharge earlier in the day also held discussion with former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who drove down to his residence.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal also held a separate meeting with Gandhi to discuss the issue of government formation in Karnataka.