With the countdown for Congress leader DK Shivakumar to take oath as Chief Minister of the state is inching closer, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi held a detailed meeting with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar here to decide on the new Cabinet formation and sources revealed that 10 ministers will also be taking oath on Wednesday with no deputy chief minister.
The Congress leadership on Tuesday held discussion with both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for over two hours to decide on the cabinet formation in the southern state.
This came after CM designate Shivakumar and acting CM Siddaramaiah arrived in the national capital on Monday afternoon and also held discussions with party incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala, party general secretary organisation KC Venugopal on Monday night.
However, after the Tuesday afternoon meeting, the party insider claimed that besides Shivakumar 10 ministers will be taking oath on Wednesday in Bengaluru and there will be no deputy chief minister formula.
The party insider said that the MLAs, who will be taking oath on Wednesday includes the names of G Parmeshwara, MB Patil, KJ George, KB Gowda, Yathindra (son of Siddaramaiah), Priyanka Kharge, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy, UT Khader and Rupa Shashidhar (daughter of KH Munniyappa).
The insider said that while deciding the names of the probable ministers in Karnataka, the party has emphasised on balancing the caste arithmetic in Karnataka with representation to Kuruba, SC, ST, Lingayat, Vokaligga, Muslim nad Christian communities to put a balance.
The party insider also stated that the list of names of ministers to be taking oath tomorrow will be released officially by the party.
The sources also said that before leaving for Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar also held meeting with Venugopal at his residence to finalise everything, including the names for the Rajya Sabha and MLC candidates.
During the meeting today, the source said that Kharge and Rahul Gandhi both had taken every names suggested by Karnataka leaders to ensure smooth transition of power in Karnataka where the party came to power with brute majority in 2023 assembly polls.
Meanwhile, another party source said that Rahul Gandhi and Kharge wil also be travelling to Bengaluru for the swearing in ceremony of Shivakumar.
Siddaramaiah had resigned from his post on May 28, two days after marathon meeting with the party leadership in the national capital on the request of the high command.
He submitted his resignation with the Governor office and Governor Thawar Chandigarh Gehlot had accepted his resignation on May 29 morning.
The power tussle in Karnataka has been going on for last 18 months, where the supporters of Shivakumar had been demanding to make him the Chief Minister as per the two and half year formula.