Facebook page backing Shivakumar as next CM candidate in K'taka crops up

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 23 : Amid the speculation of a rift within the Karnataka unit of Congress over the chief ministerial candidate, a social media page has cropped up backing Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar as a candidate for the Chief Minister post.
According to sources, a Facebook page titled 'DK Shivakumar for Next CM' has been started by the publicity team that has been hired by Shivakumar.
The page has led to more confusion among followers of Shivakumar and those of Siddaramaiah.
This comes in the backdrop of claims that there is a split within the party MLAs with one faction backing Siddaramaiah as the chief ministerial candidate while the others support Shivakumar for the post, in the eventuality of Congress winning the 2023 assembly polls.
The Karnataka Congress Chief, earlier in the day, said that he is in no hurry for the post of Chief Minister and his agenda was to bring the Congress party back to power in the state.
"I am in no hurry (for CM post). My agenda is to bring Congress back to power and for this I have said that the party can use me as a stepping stone. I have seen statements of two or three MLAs. Siddaramaiah is Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and he will look into it. Congress is still alive in Karnataka," Shivakumar said.
With Assembly elections less than two years away, Congress MLA Zameer Ahmad on Sunday said Siddaramaiah should become the "future Chief Minister of Karnataka."
Congress MLA Ramappa Timmapur had earlier remarked that DK Shivakumar has age on his side and can become Chief Minister later but Siddaramaiah must become the next Chief Minister.
On Tuesday, Congress Disciplinary Committee in the state Tuesday issued a warning to party leaders Zameer Ahmad and Raghavendra Hitnal for making statements that favoured "a person instead of the party."
Ahmed and Hitnal were served the warning days after they had stated that they wanted Siddaramaiah to be the Chief Minister once again.