The 76-yr-old leader, who belongs to neither Lingayat or Vokkaliga community, is known for his political acumen, wit & humour. He took oath as 34th CM of Karnataka Saturday.
This will be Siddaramaiah's 2nd stint as chief minister. Shivakumar's camp has claimed rotational chief ministership, but there's no official confirmation. Oath taking ceremony on 20 May.
He has also been offered six key portfolios and the option of retaining post of state party chief, but is yet to accept or refuse the offer, it is learnt.
Shivakumar & Siddaramaiah, both of whom have claimed credit for Congress's win in state, are in Delhi to meet party high command. The 2 leaders have refused any proposal of power sharing.
Though Siddaramaiah says Congress's Karnataka assembly win's a 'stepping stone' to Lok Sabha victory, analysis by ThePrint shows BJP's been improving on vote share in general elections.
Small party leaders include KRPP's G Janardhana Reddy & SKP's Darshan Puttannaiah, while the Independents are ex-Congress leaders KH Puttaswamy Gowda & Latha Mallikarjun.
The party which won 135 of 224 seats in the Karnataka elections, moved beyond traditional constituencies to make gains in Kittur-Karnataka, central districts and the Old Mysuru region.
With his approach based on 3 pillars — mass outreach, visible leadership & enthusiastic cadre — D. K. Shivakumar had kept up pressure on the BJP government consistently.
Ministers who lost their seats include Deputy CM & Minister of Major-Medium Irrigation Govind Karjol, and V. Somanna, the Minister for Housing and Infrastructure Development.
BJP changed strategy closer to polls and sought to underplay Hindutva, but reverted to it in last leg of campaign. While campaigning, trio frequently spoke about Tipu Sultan, hijab, halal.
Initial talks held on the possibility of India entering the programme that was started in 2017 between France, Germany and Spain to ensure European sovereignty in defence and security.
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