Siddaramaiah To Remain Karnataka CM For Entire Five-Year Term, No Power Sharing Arrangement: Minister M B Patil

State Minister M B Patil on Monday (22 May) categorically asserted that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will complete his five-year term as chief minister and ruled out any power-sharing arrangement in the state.

"Siddaramaiah will be the chief minister for five years. There is no proposal of power-sharing for 30 months. There are no indications that D K Shivakumar will be the chief minister after Lok Sabha elections. AICC secretary Venugopal has not said any anything about power-sharing during the press meet in Delhi. Hence, Siddaramaiah will continue and complete five-year term," Patil, who is a camp follower of CM, said.

Patil was addressing the media after meeting Shivaratri Desikendra Swami seer at Suttur Mutt.

A senior Congress leader and former home minister, Patil was seen as the party’s Lingayat face in the run-up to the elections.

He was re-elected from Babaleshwar in Bijapur district. Patil was in the forefront of demanding an independent religion status for Lingayats and is said to have played a key role in influencing the party to support the demand.

Patil's remarks comes amid reports of stalemate in cabinet expansion with both CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar attempting to maximise the representation of their followers in the ministry.

After the end of legislative session tomorrow, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are expected to head to Delhi to meet the Central leaders of the party to secure approval for inducting their supporters to the cabinet.

At least another 40 aspirants are said to be lobbying hard to make it in to the cabinet.