Congress must choose Karnataka CM soon: Bommai says confusion exposes internal strife

As Congress struggles to decide on a chief minister four days after securing a massive mandate in the polls, outgoing Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai mocked the grand old party saying the current situation exposed the internal situation of the party. The Congress, which won 135 seats out of 224 in the Karnataka polls, has been unable to decide its chief minister. The party seems to be split between former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state party chief DK Shivakumar.    

While the drama around the Karnataka CM post has moved to Delhi, Basavaraj Bommai said Congress needs to choose its chief minister soon. "Congress is yet to finalise its Chief Minister candidate in spite of getting a majority. This shows the internal situation in the party. The aspirations of people are more important than politicking. Congress should choose a chief minister as soon as possible.” 

Basavaraj Bommai, who resigned as chief minister on May 13, right after the election results were announced, had served the top post from 2021 to 2023 after BS Yediyurappa resigned as the chief minister.   

Basavaraj Bommai on Karnataka verdict

Earlier, outgoing chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had accepted responsibility for the defeat in the Karnataka polls. "I take responsibility for this debacle. There are multiple reasons for this. We will find out all the reasons and strengthen the party once again for Parliament elections," he had said, adding, "We accept the verdict of the people of Karnataka with due respect. We will take this verdict in our stride. We will analyse and correct our fault lines and rebuild the party."

Talking about if there would be changes within the BJP Karnataka state unit after the poll debacle, Bommai had said the state party chief, Nalin Kateel, would not be stepping down from his post. 

Why can't Congress choose a CM  

The Congress party is struggling to take a call on choosing its chief minister for Karnataka. While sources say the party high command decided that Siddaramaiah will be the CM, DK Shivakumar has reportedly refused to budge. Shivakumar has reportedly even said no to alternatives such as a rotational CM post and has staked a clear claim to the chair. 

Siddaramaiah has said that he should be the chief minister because he has greater support from MLAs. DK Shivakumar, on the other hand, has claimed the post because according to him, his efforts led the Congress to its thumping victory in Karnataka,