Kanteerava Stadium decked up for swearing-in tomorrow

• CM-designate Siddharamaiah and Dy.CM-designate D.K. Shivakumar in Delhi to hold talks with High Command
• Cabinet formation juggernaut begins; 50 aspirants vie for 32 Ministerial berths; 20 to 25 likely to be inducted along with CM

Bengaluru: Ending the impasse over the Government formation in Karnataka, Chief Minister-designate Siddharamaiah and Deputy Chief Minister-designate D.K. Shivakumar will take oath tomorrow, in an event likely to be attended by leaders of several opposition parties.

The CM and the Deputy CM will be sworn-in to their new roles at Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium tomorrow (May 20) at 12.30 pm. Massive arrangements are underway at the Stadium and Police officials were seen conducting inspections today. Even Shivakumar inspected the preparations this morning before leaving for Delhi.

The formal announcement of the ceremony was made after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) of newly-elected MLAs in Bengaluru last evening, which was attended by the party’s Central Observers. At the meeting, Shivakumar moved a single-line resolution and proposed the name of Siddharamaiah as the CLP leader, which all others endorsed unanimously.

This is the second CLP meeting in a week, with the first having been held on May 14 where a one-line resolution was passed authorising the High Command to select the CM. Reports said the grand-old party talked about a rotational tenure of two-and-a-half years each for both leaders. However, there was no talk on this at the party briefing confirming the CM announcement.

Both Siddharamaiah and Shivakumar met Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the Government shortly after he was formally elected the leader of the CLP. The Governor invited Siddharamaiah to take oath as CM and Shivakumar as his deputy along with their team members. A day ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Deputy CM-designate Shivakumar said that the party will implement all the guarantees which were promised in the manifesto. After the CLP meeting, negotiations are on over the number of loyalists from both the Siddharamaiah and Shivakumar camps to be given Cabinet berths.

Latest reports from Bengaluru said that both Siddharamaiah and Shivakumar have left for New Delhi this morning in a special flight to discuss Cabinet formation with the High Command.

Sources said that over 20 to 25 Ministers will take oath tomorrow along with the CM.

Siddharamaiah and the High Commandhave an uphill task ahead as the task of forming the Cabinet and the exercise is likely to be  mind-boggling.  This is because there are more than 50 aspirants in the party who are vying for the 32 Ministerial berths.

Both the CM and his deputy are competing with each other to include more and more loyalists in the Cabinet and the final decision will be taken by AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, sources added.