K’taka bypolls: Cong leading in all 3 segments, Kumaraswamy’s son trails by 18,029 votes
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which was leading in all three Assembly segments early on has suffered a setback.
New Delhi: Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar flew back to Bengaluru after meeting the Congress high command in Delhi ahead of the Karnataka swearing-in ceremony. They were here to take a decision on the cabinet formation. The swearing in will take place at 12:30 pm at the Kantaveera Stadium in Bengaluru.
In many ways, the Karnataka swearing-in will set the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Besides Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress has sent invitations to the Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. Others who have been invited include Uddhav Thackeray, Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Pawar, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Most of these leaders are trying to form a coalition to take the might of Bharatiya Janata Party and PM Narendra Modi.
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However, CPIM general secretary Prakash Karat took a dig at the Congress asking why the Kerala and the Telangana chief ministers were not invited for the swearing in ceremony, if the Congress really wanted to set the ball rolling for the 2024 LS polls.
Meanwhile, the cabinet berths are being finalised before the oath taking ceremony. Among those, favourites to win a cabinet birth are the Lingayat leaders Shamanur Shivashankarappa and MB Patil. From the Muslim community those who are likely to be in the cabinet are Tanvir Sait and UT Khader. Another Muslim leader mostly likely to get a cabinet berth is Siddaramaiah’s favourite from the Muslim community Zameer Ahmed.
G Parameshwara from the SC community is certain to be inducted as a cabinet minister.
Others in the fray and likely to be inducted sooner or later are KH Muniyppa, KJ George, Ramalinga Reddy, Satish Jarkiholi, and Priyank Kharge.
Earlier at the CLP meeting, days of hard bargain ended when DK Shivakumar proposed Siddaramaiah’s name for the post of chief minister. Shivakumar was seconded by G Parameshwara, KH Muniyappa, HK Patil and others.
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