Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar was elected leader of the legislature party on Saturday and will be the state’s next chief minister.Outgoing chief minister Siddaramaiah proposed Shivakumar’s name as the new leader of the legislature party at a meeting held at the Vidhan Soudha, ANI quoted Congress leader KC Venugopal as saying.Shivakumar is expected to be sworn in as chief minister on June 3 at the Glass House of Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru, PTI reported.#WATCH | Bengaluru, Karnataka: Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal says, "Congress high command suggested the name of DK Shivakumar as the leader of Congress Legislative Party. Siddaramaiah ji proposed the name of DK Shivakumar as the new leader of the… pic.twitter.com/MPJtk4JZxo— ANI (@ANI) May 30, 2026
Shivakumar served as deputy chief minister in the Siddaramaiah government.Siddaramaiah resigned as chief minister on Thursday. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot accepted his resignation the following day and dissolved the Council of Ministers.Siddaramaiah is the longest-serving chief minister of Karnataka with a tenure of more than eight years across two terms. The 78-year-old served as the chief minister between 2013 and 2018. His most recent term had begun in May 2023.Speculation about a leadership change in Karnataka had resurfaced after the Congress government completed half of its five-year term in November.After the Congress defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Assembly elections in May 2023, reports claimed there had been a competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the chief minister’s post.At the time, some reports claimed that a compromise had been reached based on a “rotational chief minister formula”, under which Shivakumar would take over the post after two and a half years.The Congress never confirmed that there had been such an agreement. In July, Siddaramaiah said that he would remain in office for the full five-year term.In April, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said there would be no change in Karnataka “for now”.Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were in Delhi on Tuesday for meetings with the Congress’ central leadership.On Thursday, Siddaramaiah said that he was following the Congress leadership’s decision asking him to step down. “I am making way for a new chief minister,” he said.Siddaramaiah also said that the Congress leadership had offered him a Rajya Sabha seat but he “politely told them no, saying I want to remain in state politics”.“I am not interested in national politics,” he had told reporters. “I have two more years as an MLA, I will serve my people. I will continue in active politics.”The next Assembly elections in Karnataka are expected to be held in May 2028.Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.
