New Delhi/IBNS: The suspense over the Karnataka Chief Minister continues on day 4 as the Congress keeps on struggling to bring state unit chief DK Shivakumar on board with the idea of making Siddaramaiah claim the top post for the second term.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi made two offers to DK Shivakumar at a meeting in Delhi Wednesday.
However, the two-hour meeting remained inconclusive, with Shivakumar turning down both options, media reports said.
Shivakumar was reportedly offered the post of the states single Deputy Chief Minister post alongside his current job — heading the state party unit. He was also offered six ministries of his choice.
The second offer indicated the partys desperate drive to reach an amicable solution as the one-man one-post rule was enforced by Rahul Gandhi when Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was asked to run for the post of the party president.
In option 2, the Congress leadership came up with the idea of power-sharing between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.
Under this, Siddaramaiah was to get the top post for two years, and would have been followed by Shivakumar for three years, reports said.
Shivakumar has been insisting on the top post, citing his work over the last four years like rebuilding the party after a chunk of its MLAs walked out toppling the alliance government with HD Kumaraswamy, and leading it to the massive mandate in the last weeks assembly election.
On Monday, Shivakumar claimed the support of the majority of the 135 newly elected MLAs, after a team of AICC observers had taken the views of the MLAs individually.
Subsequently, Siddaramaiah also had separate meetings with AICC General Secretary for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, and party general secretary KC Venugopal.
The Shivakumar camp said the KPCC President should be given CMs post as he had revived the party organisation at a time when it was hit by defections and desertions.
His supporters also said Shivakumar enjoyed the backing of powerful caste groups such as the Vokkaligas and Lingayats.
However, Siddaramaiah supporters argued that he not only enjoyed the support of the majority of the newly elected MLAs but is also responsible for Congress mass outreach among AHINDAs, an acronym for the rainbow coalition of religious minorities, Other Backward Classes, and Dalits.
