As expected, the Karnataka Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Saturday unanimously elected D K Shivakumar as its leader, paving the way for the Deputy Chief Minister to be elevated to the Chief Minister’s position.

The CLP’s move came two days after CM Siddaramaiah stepped down from his post following the Congress high command’s directive. Veteran party leader Siddaramaiah, who has already become the longest-serving CM of Karnataka, resigned as part of a power-sharing agreement between him and Shivakumar in May 2023, when the party stormed to power by clinching the Karnataka Assembly polls.

The 64-year-old Vokkaliga leader, Shivakumar has also been the state Congress president for several years.

Addressing media persons following the CLP meeting, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, accompanied by AICC general secretary in charge of Karataka Randeep Surjewala, said that the CLP “unanimously authorised Congress high command to propose a leader for CLP. The Congress high command suggested the name of D K Shivakumar as the leader of CLP.”

Siddaramaiah proposed the name of Shivakumar, which was seconded by G Parameshwara, Venugopal said, adding that the new CM will take oath along with a new set of Cabinet ministers. “Everybody thought that this transition would cause trouble for the Congress party. Everybody anticipated that a big shake is going to happen in Congress,” he said, adding that the transition happened “smoothly” as the “Congress is like a family”.

Both Venugopal and Surjewala were sent by the AICC leadership as its observers for the CLP meeting following which Shivakumar led a party delegation, comprising Siddaramaiah and several Congress legislators, to meet Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at the Lok Bhavan to stake claim to form his government. The Governor invited Shivakumar to take oath as the CM on June 3 along with his new ministers.

Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, there are speculations that up to four Deputy CMs may be appointed in the new Shivakumar ministry. However, the Congress leadership has yet to take a call on the issue. Shivakumar is also learnt to have opposed the appointment of the Deputy CMs in his ministry.

Congress sources told The Indian Express that more than half the ministers in the outgoing Siddaramaiah Cabinet may be dropped to make way for new faces. The party is said to be focusing on younger legislators to fill the Cabinet berths.

Sources said that senior legislator K J George, who was energy minister in the Siddaramaiah government is “not keen” to be part of the Shivakumar Cabinet. He is likely to be elected to the Rajya Sabha in the upcoming elections.

Other Congress MLAs such as G Parameshwara, H K Patil, Krishna Byre Gowda and Priyank Kharge are set to be part of the Shivakumar Cabinet, said sources. The new faces to be inducted into the Cabinet could include NA Haaris, Mahantesh Kaujalgi, Srinivas Mane and Roopakala Shashidhar, among others.

Shivakumar is expected to meet Mallikarjun Kharge and

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Delhi over the next couple of days to finalise his Cabinet. While a third of the ministerial berths are likely to go to Siddaramaiah’s loyalists, another third would be bagged by the supporters of Shivakumar, with the high command picking faces for the remaining posts, sources said.

Shivakumar’s elevation as the CM has also cleared the decks for appointment of a new Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president in the coming days. Senior party leader Satish Jarkiholi, a tribal heavyweight considered a front-runner for the KPCC president’s post, is also learnt to have sought a ministerial berth. There are also talks that Parameshwara may return as the KPCC chief for a second party stint.