Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 23: It is almost certain that D K Shivakumar, apart from being offered the post of the energy minister, will also be given the post of the president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

As current president of KPCC, Dr G Parameshwar, is being made deputy chief minister, the party high command, it is said, is convinced that Shivakumar is the ideal choice to lead the party to success in Lok Sabha election. Highly placed sources said that a final decision would be announced by next week.

Reports claim that Shivakumar had been asked by the party's national leadership to sacrifice his ministerial position and work as KPCC president. But he had shown reluctance to accept this offer. He expressed the opinion that the combined post of the minister and KPCC presidentship will help him to lead the party in the next election. The party high command, at one stage, also thought of appointing someone else as KPCC president and even considered the name of Siddaramaiah to the post. But considering the contribution made by Shivakumar by way of keeping MLAs in resort and forging alliance with JD(S), the party decided to reward him with two posts although it normally follows one man - one post policy. Although Shivakumar also had aspired to become deputy chief minister, the party leadership is understood to have declined this demand and Shivakumar too was convinced of this situation.

Another calculation of the Congress leadership is that having given the post of the chief minister to JD(S) it can possibly suffer adverse impact in old Mysuru region. Giving the post of the KPCC president to Shivakumar who belongs to Vokkaliga community, the party feels, can offset this imbalance. A final decision is likely to be made during the discussions of state Congress leaders with the national leadership at New Delhi after Kumaraswamy proves his majority, sources stated.