Even as suspense remains on who the Congress will choose for the Karnataka chief minister's post, Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar, the two strong claimants for the coveted post, met party president Mallikarjun Kharge separately in Delhi.
Shivakumar, who arrived in the national capital this morning from Bengaluru, reached Kharge's residence a little after 5 pm and held deliberations over the post of chief minister of Karnataka. Soon after Shivakumar left, Siddaramaiah arrived at Kharge's residence at 10, Rajaji Marg after 6 pm, and the two leaders held discussions on the top post.
Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met Kharge and held discussions over government formation in the southern state.
On Monday evening, Kharge held a meeting with the three central observers who had interacted with newly elected MLAs and sought their views on the chief minister selection. Sushilkumar Shinde, Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria met Kharge at his residence where general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal and general secretary in-charge for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala were also present.
After the meeting, Surjewala told reporters the party will announce its decision by Tuesday evening.
Siddaramaiah (75) and Shivakumar (60) have been locked in an intense power struggle over who will lead the new government in the state after the party's stupendous victory in the Assembly elections. Both the leaders have made no secret of their ambition to become the chief minister. They were lobbying hard for it with supporters of each one raising the pitch in support of their leader. A poster war by supporters of both leaders also erupted soon after the party won the election.
Congress stormed to power in the state in the May 10 elections after winning 135 seats. The BJP was reduced to 66 seats while the JD(S) could bag just 19 seats.
