The Congress appointed three central observers, including senior leader Sushil Kumar Shinde, on Sunday, ahead of its crucial legislature party meeting in Karnataka to elect the new chief minister, amid intense lobbying for the position.
Other observers include party general secretary Jitendra Singh and former AICC general secretary Deepak Babaria, in addition to Shinde, a former Maharashtra chief minister. K C Venugopal, AICC general secretary (Organisation), stated that the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting would be overseen by central observers.
Venugopal took to his twitter and penned “Hon’ble Congress President has deputed Shri.Sushilkumar Shinde (Former Chief Minister, Maharashtra), Shri.Jitendra Singh (AICC GS) and Shri.Deepak Babaria (former AICC GS) as observers for the election of the CLP Leader of Karnataka.”
The newly elected Congress MLAs in Karnataka will meet at 5.30 p.m. in Bengaluru to discuss government formation. Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing assembly Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar are both strong contenders for the position.
While Siddaramaiah (75) and Shivakumar (60) have met with their supporters, a poster war has erupted ahead of the CLP meeting. The Congress made a stunning comeback in Karnataka on Saturday, unseating the BJP with a comfortable majority from its lone southern citadel.
The Congress won 135 seats in the 224-member assembly on May 10, while the ruling BJP and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) won 66 and 19, respectively.
Even though the Congress managed to present a united front prior to the elections, maintaining that unity as the process of selecting the CLP leader gets underway will be difficult.