Siddaramaiah departs for Delhi after resigning as Karnataka chief minister

Following his resignation as the chief minister of Karnataka on Thursday, Siddaramaiah departed for Delhi, where he is likely to meet the Congress High Command and discuss his successor and the new cabinet.

As per a PTI report citing sources, his deputy and probable successor D K Shivakumar will also leave for the national capital later in the day.

According to Siddaramaiah's travel plan shared with the media, he will land in Delhi tonight, and his return journey has been kept "open".

The meeting with the High Command will likely include discussions over selecting the new legislature party leader, ministry composition, and other modalities, including the state Congress president post, which is currently held by Shivakumar.

Earlier, in the day, Siddaramaiah tendered his resignation to the Governor's Special Secretary at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru.

Special Secretary Prabhu Shankar received the resignation in the absence of Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot.

In the morning on Thursday, Siddaramaiah hosted breakfast for his Cabinet colleagues at his residence. It was also then that he informed ministers of his decision to step down and stated that Deputy CM Shivakumar would be his successor, as per the directions of the Congress high command, several ministers who attended the meeting said.

However, during a press conference in which Siddaramaiah announced that he is stepping aside, the Congress leader said, "Whoever the legislature party and the high command decides will be the chief minister of the state."

Siddaramaiah also confirmed that he was offered the post of a Rajya Sabha MP, but declined, saying that he wanted to serve the people of the state.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were summoned to Delhi on Tuesday by the party, where there were back-to-back meetings at the Congress headquarters involving Rahul Gandhi, AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party general secretaries K C Venugopal and Surjewala.