2 years for Siddaramaiah and 3 years for DK Shivakumar? Congress mulls split Karnataka CM terms - Report

Reports suggest that the leadership sweetened its offer to Shivakumar by promising him a three-year term if he agreed to Siddaramaiah presiding over the CMO for the first two years of the tenure.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar, who met party president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi on Tuesday, continued to stake claim to the chief minister’s post, forcing the leadership to put off the crucial decision until Wednesday. Even after the leadership sweetened its offer to Shivakumar by guaranteeing him a three-year term provided he agreed to Siddaramaiah preside over the CMO for the first two years of the mandate, party circles in both Bengaluru and New Delhi were still rife with rumours about Shivakumar adhering to his claim.

The party leadership will now hold another round of meetings on Wednesday before announcing who will lead the government in the state. Before the series of talks to break the impasse began, Rahul Gandhi spoke with Kharge in the afternoon.

Kharge met Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah separately in the evening, and the Congress president's discussions with the latter lasted significantly longer—roughly an hour and a half. Siddaramaiah also had separate meetings with the party's general secretaries, KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala. Both state leaders remained in the capital, and according to reports, they will likely be contacted again for talks on Wednesday morning to wrap up the selection process.

According to sources, Shivakumar said that the senior politician had served one full term and that it was about time that he, as the party chairman who oversaw Congress's victorious Karnataka campaign, was handed the top role. Siddaramaiah has pressed his claim, noting the majority support among MPs. 

A majority of MLAs are said to have endorsed Siddaramaiah's assertion during a lengthy meeting of the party leaders that lasted more than five hours on Monday after all three observers for Karnataka had submitted their findings to Kharge.

Shivakumar wasn't able to travel on Monday because of a stomach ailment, but Siddaramaiah had taken a special flight and landed at the nation's capital on Monday afternoon.  He arrived in the national capital on Tuesday afternoon and met his MP brother D K Suresh.