Intense discussions mark Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah's Delhi visit ahead of former's swearing-in on June 3

The two leaders held separate meetings with Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal late on Monday night.

New Delhi: In a day marked by intense deliberations, Karnataka caretaker Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader D K Shivakumar remained engaged in high-level discussions to finalise the list of ministers for the new Council of Ministers.

The two leaders, who arrived in the national capital together on Monday, held separate meetings with Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal late on Monday night.

On Tuesday morning, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar attended a meeting at the residence of former Energy Minister K J George. Venugopal and Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala were also in attendance.

This was followed by a key meeting chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence at 12:45 PM, which was joined by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. The discussions lasted for nearly an hour.

Later, around 5 PM, another meeting took place at Venugopal’s residence. Those present included Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, Surjewala, Venugopal, and Yatindra Siddaramaiah.

Meanwhile, a large number of aspirants — including former ministers, MLAs, and MLCs — who have been camping in Delhi continued to lobby aggressively for a place in the new Council of Ministers.