Bringing back 'collapsed' admin my top priority: Siddaramaiah
Bangalore, May 10 (PTI): Siddaramaiah, who would be the new Karnataka Chief Minister, today said putting the 'collapsed" administration back on track would be a major challenge facing him in his new role.
"The development of the state has gone 10 years back", Siddaramaiah told reporters after he was elected leader of the Congress Legislature Party. In the May five Assembly polls, the Congress had decimated the ruling BJP and staged a spectacular comeback to power after seven years.
He said the date of his swearing-in ceremony as Chief Minister had not yet been decided but it could be either on May 12 or May 13. Asked whether he would have Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah said "the High Command will decide."
Replying to a query, Siddaramaiah maintained that there was no secret ballot on the CLP leadership issue and the decision was unanimous.
"The MLAs were asked to give their preference in writing, instead of orally, and it (election) was done in a democratic and transparent way", Siddaramaiah said.
"After eliciting the opinion of legislators, the issue was discussed with Sonia Gandhi. Subsequently, Antony announced that as per her directive, I have been elected CLP leader", he said.
Siddaramaiah said the Congress was committed to inclusive growth and would make sincere efforts in this regard. People were expecting a different government and a government which functions. They were also expecting a corruption-free and transparent government, he said.
Siddaramaiah said he would try to live up to people's expectations.
He expressed his gratitude to Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi for reposing faith on him as the CLP Leader.
Earlier Report
It's official: Siddaramaiah is new Karnataka CM
Update: 5.30 pm
Bangalore, May 10 (IANS): The Congress High Command Friday named 64-year-old Siddaramaiah as Karnataka's new chief minister.
"Siddaramaiah is the choice of the party's high command for the chief minister's post," the party's central observer, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, told reporters at the party's office in the city centre.
Within minutes of the much-awaited announcement, wild celebrations broke out at the party office, with hundreds of party cadres and Siddaramaiah's supporters cheering, screaming, hooting and dancing.
"Siddaramaiah has been unanimously selected as our legislature party leader and he will be chief minister," state leader and former minister R.V. Deshpande told reporters even before Antony formally announced the high command's decision.
This was among the quickest decisions taken by the Congress in recent years.
Earlier, all the 121 newly-elected Congress legislators authorised the high command, which includes party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, to decide on the name for the coveted post.
"All the legislators have authorised our high command to name the chief minister through a one-line resolution after they expressed their opinion through a secret ballot to the central observers," another party leader, D.K. Shiva Kumar, told reporters.
Besides Antony, the high command had deputed the party's senior leader from Goa, Luizinho Faleiro, Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh as observers to seek the legislators' opinion for the chief minister's post.
Madhusudhan Mistry, the Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka was also present at the three-hour-long meeting.
Asserting that there were no differences among the elected members and they were united on who should become the chief minister, Shiva Kumar said legislators had given their opinion to the observers in writing and left the decision to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
"All the legislators have expressed their opinion in writing to the observers in the form of a secret ballot, authorising the party high command to decide. Later, a resolution was unanimously passed to leave the decision to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," Shiva Kumar added.
The one-line resolution was moved by Siddaramaiah and seconded by the state party leaders Roshan Baig, H.K. Patil and R.V. Deshpande, who were elected to the assembly in the May 5 poll. The counting was on Wednesday.
With a comfortable majority of 121 seats in the 225-member assembly, including one nominated member, the Congress returned to power on its own after a gap of nine years.
Polling for one assembly seat - Periyapatna in Mysore district - was postponed to May 28 following the death of the BJP candidate.
The outgoing ruling party, the BJP, secured 40 seats, as did the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).
Of the remaining 22 seats, newly-floated regional outfits the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and BSR (Badavara Shramika Raithara) bagged six and four respectively. Twelve independents were also elected.
Congress breaks tradition, names Karntataka CM in hours
The Congress Friday set a record by swiftly naming Siddaramaiah as its chief minister in Karnataka - just about four hours after the meeting of central observers with its newly-elected legislators here. This is perhaps the shortest time the party has taken to decide on its leader in a state.
The central observers' team led by Defence Minister A.K. Antony began meeting the 121 legislators individually to know their choice around 12.30 p.m. in the party's office on the busy Queen's Road in the heart of the city, and at 5 p.m., the decision was announced.
Perhaps this is the first time in the recent Congress history that the party completed all formalities in the state capital itself and that too within hours, giving the go-by to the usual practice of legislators "authorising" the high command and then formally selecting the leader, which would take a day or two, sometimes even more.
This practice, believed to have been started by the late prime minister Indira Gandhi, had led to derisive comments that Congress chief ministers are 'lifafas' (envelopes) as the high command decision was supposed to come in a sealed cover.
Antony's announcement took the media by surprise as the hordes of media personnel thronging the Congress office since morning expected him and his team to leave for Delhi soon after the meeting to brief Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
However, there was expectation that the decision would be announced later Friday or the latest by Saturday, which too, if it had happened, would have been a record of sorts for the party.
Brash & bold Siddaramaiah realises life-time ambition
Bangalore, May 10 (PTI): Rustic in appearance at times, outspoken Siddaramaiah is not known to mince words and hide his ambitions.
And whenever some ruling BJP members tried to taunt him over his ambition, Siddaramaiah, Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, used to get aggressive and declare without hesitation that he would become Chief Minister.
Today, he was proved right after being elected CLP leader and becoming Chief Minister-designate. Luck also seems to have played its part. The shock defeat of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwara in the May 5 Assembly elections made things that much easier for him.
With better hold among the legislators, Siddaramaiah, who has the distinction of presenting as many as seven state budgets as Finance Minister, could pip veteran Congress leader and Union Labour and Employment Minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge in a straight contest.
He narrowly missed the Chief Minister's "gaddi" in 1996 after the incumbent H D Deve Gowda went on to become Prime Minister. Siddaramaiah, who hails from Kuruba community, the third largest, was pipped by J H Patel. Both under Deve Gowda and Patel, he served as Finance Minister.
After the split of Janata Dal as JDU and JDS, he sided with the latter headed by Deve Gowda and became President of the party's state unit.
A product of "Janatha Pariwar", influenced as he was by socialism advocated by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, he bade adieu to his career as an advocate and entered political field.
Siddaramaiah made his debut in the Assembly in 1983 after being elected from Chamundeshwari constituency on a Lok Dal party ticket and later joined the ruling erstwhile Janatha Party.
He was the first Chairman of "Kannada Kavalu Samiti", a watchdog committee which had the mandate to supervise the implementation of Kannada as official language formed during Ramakrishna Hegde's chiefministership.
In the mid-term elections two years later, he was re-elected and served as Minister for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services in the Hegde government.
After conducting three "AHINDA" (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and dalits) conventions during the period when he tried to position himself as backward classes leader, he was sacked from the JDS in 2005, at a time when Deve Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy was seen as a rising star of the party.
JDS critics say Siddaramaiah was removed as Deve Gowda was keen to promote Kumaraswamy as the party's leader.
Siddaramaiah joined the Congress with his followers in 2006. In December 2007, he was elected in a by-election from Chamundeshwari in Mysore. He as Chairman of the KPCC Publicity committee of Elections in 2008.
Born on August 12, 1948 at Siddaramanahundi, a village in Mysore district, Siddaramaiah hails from a poor farming community. He graduated from Mysore University with B.Sc. degree and later did his Law degree from the same University and pursued it as a profession for some time.
Earlier Update: 4.30 pm
CM race: MLAs vote by secret ballot - Official announcement shortly
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Update: 4.20 pm
Bangalore, May 10: As per the latest reports, a majority of the 121 MLAs of Congress have backed Siddaramaiah for the CM's post, in a secret ballot conducted during the KPCC meeting here on Friday May 10.
The four AICC observers were expected to leave for New Delhi to apprise Congress president Sonia Gandhi of the latest developments. Sonia Gandhi was requested to give the final word on the matter in a resolution passed during the CLP meeting.
The name of the CM candidate is likely to be announced at around 6 pm this evening. Celebrations have already begun outside the KPCC office and Siddaramaiah's residence.
Sources said that KPCC president too planned to rush to New Delhi today to place his name before the Congress high command as a possible candidate for CM's post. However, the sources later claimed that he was reportedly convinced to step back and settle for a plum ministerial post.
Vinay Kumar Sorake, MLA from Kaup, Shakuntala Shetty from Puttur and Ramanath Rai from Bantwal are most likely to get ministerial berths, said sources. Other names include D K Shivkumar, Motamma, Roshan Baig, Anil Lad, Dinesh Gundurao and Ambareesh.
The new CM is likely to be sworn in at Kanteerava Stadium here on May 13.
Earlier Report
Bangalore, May 10 (PTI): Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah appears to be emerging as the frontrunner for the chief minister's post in Karnataka ahead of the visit of AICC observers to Bangalore to elect a new leader of the party's legislature group.
With Congress securing a comfortable majority in the southern state, central leaders are speaking of the possibility of an MLA becoming the new CLP leader who will become the chief minister.
Siddaramaiah is the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing assembly who has secured an easy win from his pocketborough of Varuna.
A backward class leader who joined Congress six years ago, Siddaramaiah has already said he was "one of the strong contenders" but has left the decision on chief ministership to the Congress high command and the legislature party.
Reports from Bangalore had it that the race now seems to have narrowed down between Siddaramaiah and union minister and party veteran M Mallikarjuna Kharge. Kharge is an MP and so also union minister M Veerappa Moily who is also an aspirant.
Congress is sending senior minister AK Antony, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state Madhusudan Mistri, Luizinho Faleiro, who was Karnatataka's screening committee chairman, and union minister Jitender Singh to Karnataka on Friday to elicit the views of newly-elected party MLAs on the issue of Chief Ministership.
The shock defeat of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief G Parameshwara is believed to have weakened his stake for chief ministership, party sources said.
Contenders sought to vigorously push their claims.
Siddaramaiah's Bangalore residence was a hub of activity Thursday as several MLAs loyal to him thronged it.
"The High Command will decide (on the chief ministership)", Siddaramaiah and Kharge said separately.
Siddaramaiah, a former deputy chief minister, joined Congress in 2006 and carries the "outsider tag". He also sought to play the sympathy card by announcing that the May five elections was the last poll of his life.
Kharge is a seasoned politician and had served as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President and Leader of Opposition.
More people have thrown their hats in the ring. They include former KPCC President R V Deshapande, former Working President of KPCC D K Shivakumar, senior Lingayat leader Shyamanur Shivashankarappa and T B Jayachandra who served as Deputy Floor Leader of Congress in the outgoing Assembly.
"There is nothing wrong in aspiring to be chief minister. There is no competition and there are no differences (among the contenders). Everybody will abide the high command decision", Deshpande said.
Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi has reportedly given clear instructions that only an elected representative has to be chosen as the CM. This is effect means that Kharge, Moily and others are rendered ineligible for the post, and hence Siddaramaiah's selection has been almost confirmed.