3 min readMay 28, 2026 12:21 PM IST First published on: May 28, 2026 at 12:21 PM ISTTwo days after the Congress high command told him to step down to pave the way for a leadership transition, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Thursday announced his decision to resign from the post at a breakfast meeting with his Cabinet. D K Shivakumar is all set to take over as the new CM with two to three Deputy CMs.Satish Jharkiholi, sources said, could be the new Karnataka Congress president replacing Shivakumar, who has been holding the post since 2020. Hailing from an ST community from Belagavi in North Karnataka, he will be a counterweight to Shivakumar.AdvertisementWhile the Congress central leadership had conveyed to Siddaramaiah on Tuesday that it was looking at a transition and he should facilitate the smooth change of guard, it had not given any signal to Shivakumar that he would be the successor, although he was the obvious choice. While Siddaramaiah was said to be in a state of shock, Shivakumar kept waiting for word from the high command.Sources said the high command wanted to finalise the Cabinet first so that Shivakumar doesn’t have a completely free hand in the selection of ministers that could antagonise the Siddaramiah faction. So there will be two to three Deputy CMs, keeping in mind the caste and regional equations. Sources said there would be one Deputy CM each from the Lingayat and Dalit communities. Shivakumar hails from the Vokkaliga community. And if Siddaramaiah insists on making his son Yathindra a Deputy CM, the number would go up.M B Patil, one of the prominent Lingayat faces of the Congress and now minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries, is learnt to be the frontrunner for the post of one Deputy CM. A Siddaramaiah loyalist, he could be appointed as the state Congress president if he refuses to join the Shivakumar Cabinet. Home Minister G Parameshwara, a former state Congress president, could be the second Deputy CM. He hails from the Dalit community.AdvertisementAlso Read | DK Shivakumar by his side, Siddaramaiah tells Cabinet he’s quitting as Karnataka CMSources said the high command is not averse to making Yathindra a Deputy CM as it will only ensure stability of the Shivakumar government. Sources said Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is keen that the new Cabinet has more representation for Ahinda, an acronym in Kannada for a coalition of the Alpasankhyataru (Minorities), Hindulidavaru (Backward Classes), and Dalitaru (Dalits).Siddaramaiah, a Kuruba, was the only CM from a backward class community that the Congress had. Over the years, he assiduously worked on building the Ahinda support base. The high command is learnt to be keen that the entire Cabinet take the oath of office along with Shivakumar. The leadership also prefers a new look and a relatively young Cabinet.