After registering a thumping victory in the Karnataka assembly election, the Congress has another task of selecting the next chief minister.
The newly-elected Congress MLAs in Karnataka are meeting in Bengaluru on Sunday evening to discuss government formation with leaders eliciting their views on the Chief Ministerial candidate.
Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar are strong claimants and front-runners for the coveted post.
However, banners have come up in front of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar's residences in Bengaluru, erected by supporters, congratulating them for Congress win and projecting them as "next CM".
Supporters of Siddaramaiah, who is a former chief minister of Karnataka, put up a poster outside his residence in Bengaluru, referring to him as "the next CM of Karnataka."
Posters were also put up outside the house of D K Shivakumar wishing him for his birthday which is on May 15 with the message: "Birthday greetings to the new Chief Minister of Karnataka".
While the 60-year-old Shivakumar, considered to be "troubleshooter" for the Congress party, Siddaramaiah has a pan-Karnataka appeal.
If Siddaramaiah, who joined Congress after being expelled from JD-S, gets elected as the CLP leader, this will be his second stint as the Chief Minister from the party after having occupied the coveted post for five years between 2013-18. Shivakumar had served as minister in Siddaramaiah's cabinet.
In the May 10 elections to the 224-member assembly, the Congress scored an emphatic victory with 135 seats, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal-Secular secured 66 and 19, respectively.
With inputs from PTI
