"Party will stand up to pledge made to Kannadigas": Surjewala
May 15, 2023
New Delhi [India], May 16 : After the central observers of Congress for Karnataka submitted their report regarding the next Chief Ministerial choice to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC in-charge of state Randeep Singh Surjewala on Monday said that the party will stand up to the pledge made to 6.5 crores Kannadigas.
"Congress party will stand up to the pledge made to 6.5 crores Kannadigas...the observers have submitted their written report to the Congress President," Surjewala said while talking to the reporters here.
He further said that the party President Mallikarjun Kharge will hold deliberations with state leaders and other central leaders to take a call on the next Karnataka Chief Ministerial choice.
"Party President will hold deliberations with state leaders and other central leaders and will take an appropriate call," he added.
After registering a landslide victory in Karnataka assembly polls, the party is working on selecting the next Chief Minister of the state; the most probable names among which are former CM Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar.
Earlier on Sunday, a meeting convened after the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) unanimously passed a resolution authorising party president Mallikarjun Kharge to pick the name of the Karnataka Chief Minister.
"The Congress Legislature Party unanimously resolves that AICC President is hereby authorised to appoint the new leader of the Congress Legislature Party," the resolution stated.
The meeting which started late on Sunday night at a hotel in Bengaluru, continued till 1.30 am. It was attended by all 135 newly elected MLAs.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and party leaders Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria were present in the meeting as observers. Party leaders like Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and others also attended the meeting.
According to the Election Commission of India, Congress won 135 seats pushing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power in the only southern state it ruled and boosting its own prospects for the electoral battles ahead.
BJP managed to win 66 seats. Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) bagged 19 seats. Independents have won two seats while Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each.
