DK Shivakumar Awaits ‘Birthday Gift’ As Congress Takes Final Call On Chief Minister Post

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar is expecting his special ‘gift’ from Party on his birthday on Monday as he awaits the High Command’s final call on who will be the next Chief Minister of the state.

Shivakumar, who was expected in Delhi on Monday to meet Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) President M Mallikarjun Kharge before the final call on the CM post, said he has not decided on going to the national capital yet, as he has ‘rituals at my home’ for his birthday.

In the morning, before AICC observers returned to Delhi after meeting party MLAs in Karnataka, Shivakumar reached the Shangri-la Hotel in Bengaluru for a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party.

The front runner for the post of Chief Minister also met with his scores of supporters, who gathered outside his residence in Bengaluru to greet him on his birthday with cakes.

“We have passed a one-line resolution. We will leave it to the party’s high command… I have not decided to go to Delhi yet. I have done whatever job I have to do… I don’t know what gift the high command will give on my birthday but the people of Karnataka have given us the numbers,” Shivakumar told reporters.

“On my birthday, I have to meet a lot of people… I have rituals at my home on the occasion,” the Congress leader added.

Sporting a united front, Shivakumar on Sunday night tweeted a picture of himself celebrating his birthday with Siddaramaiah and other party colleagues.

“My life is dedicated to serving the people of Karnataka. On the eve of my birthday, the people of Karnataka gave me the best birthday gift possible. Thanks to my Congress family for their warm greetings,” Shivakumar said in the tweet.

After a landslide victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls with 135 seats in the 224-member House, both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are eyeing the post of Chief Minister.