New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to step down from his position on Thursday, thereby marking an end to his stint with the post and also bringing curtains down on an unending power tussle in the state.

Veteran Congress leader and nine-time MLA RV Deshpande gave a near-confirmation of Siddaramaiah’s exit during an interaction with the media persons on Wednesday.

“This may happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he said, when newsmen asked him about the likely change of guard in the state.

He also said that the news of Siddaramaiah paving the way for the rival camp came as a surprise to many like him, but the matter has been deliberated upon and decided by the Congress high command.

“We tried to persuade him and urged him to continue as the Chief Minister, but that seems unlikely now, as he seems to have made up his mind,” Deshpande said.

The disclosures by Deshpande come ahead of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s crucial breakfast meeting with his cabinet colleague on Thursday morning. It is after this breakfast meeting that the CM is likely to announce the power transition.

Siddaramaiah was also questioned by the newsmen about leadership change, as he paid homage to former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru at Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday. He refused to divulge details and replied in a one-liner, “I will speak tomorrow.”

Notably, the open rivalry between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar camps has played out for a while now as the latter insisted on 2.5 years power-sharing formula, as purportedly agreed during government formation in the state. This time, the fight reached the Congress high command in Delhi and the latter was ‘forced’ to take a call after dithering over the issue for a while.

According to reports, the Congress high command has given the go-ahead to Shivakumar’s elevation as the next Chief Minister, and the deliberations are still on in Delhi over the selection of cabinet ministers.

RV Deshpande, while speaking to newsmen, didn’t specify the next Chief Minister but emphasised that it’s the Congress high command that will decide the power transition in the state.

When asked whether he would find a berth in the next cabinet, he said he wasn’t sure of it.

–IANS

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