Siddaramaiah will cooperate, says Shivakumar as race for Karnataka CM turns intriguing

Bengaluru, May 14 (IANS) The race for the post of the Chief Minister in Karnataka turned intriguing on Sunday with Congress' state President D.K. Shivakumar saying that Leader and Opposition and contender Siddaramaiah would cooperate with him.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting of the newly-elected Congress legislators, Shivakumar said he had extended cooperation for him earlier and now Siddaramaiah would cooperate with him.

"After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, I took charge of the party. Then senior leader Dinesh Gundu Rao and Siddaramaiah had resigned from their posts. Didn't I wait patiently and cooperate when I was not inducted into the cabinet," he asked.

Siddaramaiah, after assuming charge as CM in 2013, had kept out Shivakumar from the cabinet for a long time. "I have extended my cooperation to him (Siddaramaiah)," Shivakumar said.

The statements have assumed importance against the backdrop of the present political scenario. The Congress has achieved majority with the equal efforts of Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, and the top party leadership is maintaining that it will take a call after the Legislature Party meeting.

Marasappa Ravi, Congress district spokesperson has released a press note and urged Siddaramaiah not to become a roadblock for Shivakumar to become the CM.

Shivakumar facilitated Siddaramaiah's joining the Congress. It is Shivakumar who gave him the strategy to contest from two seats in 2018, he said. Siddaramaiah lost in Chamundeshwari seat and won from Badami seat in the last elections.

"Siddaramaiah, who was pushed to the corner in JD-S, was recognised by Shivakumar and given respectable status in Congress by Shivakumar. Now it is time for Siddaramaiah to pay back," he said.

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