"Consensus, Not Dictatorship": Congress Slams Karnataka Choice Delay Buzz

The Congress believes in "consensus, not dictatorship", party leader KC Venugopal said today as he announced Siddaramaiah as the Congress leadership's choice for the Karnataka chief minister post, four days after returned to power in the state with a thumping victory.

Today's announcement brought to an end the long-drawn deadlock due to competing claims by Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar for the top job. Mr Shivakumar will be the sole Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and continue as the state party chief till the 2024 general election, the Congress announced today.

The Congress leadership's delay in announcing the Chief Minister choice had sparked a buzz, with BJP's Basavaraj Bommai, the former chief minister, saying that this shows a "lack of unity" in the party.

Addressing the media today, Mr Venugopal, the party's general secretary in-charge of organisation, said, "We got a mandate on May 13 evening. On May 14 evening, we had a CLP (Congress legislature party) meeting. The Congress president deputed three observers. On the night of May 14 and the next morning, they held a one-to-one with each and every MLA of the Congress and submitted a report."

"Our party is a democratic party. We believe in consensus, not dictatorship. Over the past two days, we were trying for a consensus," he added.

Mr Venugopal said that the Congress has "good, dynamic" leaders in Karnataka. "Siddaramaiah is an experienced politician, an able administrator. He contributed a lot in this election. In the same way, our PCC president is a dynamic party organiser and electrified the cadre. Both are big assets of the Congress party in Karnataka," he said, adding that both were deserving of the top post.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge held consultations with senior leaders and with Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr DK Shivakumar to reach a decision. "He also took the opinion of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders," Mr Venugopal said, announcing the party's choice of Siddaramaiah.

Earlier, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had hit back at remarks on the delay to finalise the Karnataka choice and pointed to the time taken by the BJP to choose Chief Ministers after its victories in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Goa.

Responding to a question, the Congress leader said the party will invite leaders of "like-minded" parties for the swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The Congress general secretary was also asked if there was any power-sharing formula between the two leaders. This comes amid a buzz that the idea of both Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar serving as Chief Minister for a term of 2.5 years had been discussed.

Responding to this, Mr Venugopal said, "The power-sharing formula is to share the power with the people of Karnataka. That's all."

Mr Shivakumar, who had initially refused to budge on his demand for the Chief Minister post, is learnt to have agreed to the Number 2 role following an intervention by Mrs Gandhi. Mr Shivakumar's brother and MP DK Suresh told NDTV that they are not very happy with the decision. Sources close to Mr Shivakumar have said he made the "sacrifice" in the interest of the party.