Siddaramaiah's Answer To NDTV On Who's The Next Karnataka Chief Minister

Siddaramaiah has formally given his resignation letter to the Karnataka governor and opened the way for another leader to become the chief minister in the Congress-ruled state.

To a question by NDTV on who would be his successor, Siddaramaiah said, "The Congress party will decide. The high command will decide."

There is a strong buzz around his deputy DK Shivakumar, who accompanied him to the governor as he went to give his resignation letter, about becoming the next chief minister.

But Siddaramaiah did not mention any name in his response to NDTV.

Siddaramaiah said he would continue as an MLA in the state and not look to enter parliament as a Congress MP.

"I have always said, both inside and outside the assembly, that whenever the high command directs me, I will give my resignation. Two days ago, the high command asked me to step down and, keeping my word, I am submitting my resignation," Siddaramaiah told reporters.

The 78-year-old leader joins a small list of Karnataka politicians who served as chief minister more than once, including S Nijalingappa, Veerendra Patil, D Devaraj Urs, Ramakrishna Hegde, HD Kumaraswamy, and BS Yediyurappa.

During his long political career, Siddaramaiah has contested 12 assembly elections and won nine of them. He also holds the record for presenting the state budget 17 times.

Karnataka Law Minister HK Patil earlier today said Shivakumar will indeed be the next chief minister, as decided by the party high command. But no official word has come from the party. "The chief minister will resign at 3 pm. Siddaramaiah said DK Shivakumar would be made the new chief minister," Patil told reporters after a meeting at Siddaramaiah's house this morning over breakfast.

During the breakfast meeting, Shivakumar was seen touching Siddaramaiah's feet, in a gesture seen as taking blessings for a new chapter. Both were also seen sharing a hug in front of party leaders and ministers at Siddaramaiah's house.

Siddaramaiah is known for several major welfare and social justice initiatives during his political career. His decisions on internal reservation, reservation for oppressed communities in government tenders, and providing large-scale representation to backward and oppressed classes in the cabinet have often been described by supporters as pathbreaking measures.

He also emerged as one of the Congress's strongest critics of the BJP and its ideological mentor, RSS. At the same time, he has often faced criticism from political opponents, who accused him of pursuing appeasement politics.