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Bengaluru, May 18: Congress leader DK Shivakumar, who has settled for the number two post in Karnataka after days of hard negotiations, today said he had "accepted the high command's decision like we have to accept a judge's verdict in court".

The Congress today announced that Siddaramaiah will be the next Chief Minister of Karnataka and Mr Shivakumar his "only deputy", ending five days of suspense. They will be sworn in on Saturday.

Mr Shivakumar, 61, fought hard and refused to back down on his demand for the chief minister's post until Sonia Gandhi stepped in. He finally agreed to "sacrifice in the interest of the party".

"Once we agree that we will leave it to the high command, we have to accept the verdict. A lot of us will be arguing in court. Ultimately, what the judge said has to be accepted. All 135 MLAs, all of us joined and said we will leave it to the high command," Mr Shivakumar said in a television interview.

"We assured the people of Karnataka. Personal interest comes later, party interest is first. That is what my commitment is," he said.

"Ultimately, for various reasons, suppose if we had not won, what would have been the position? Now we have won, we have to get the fruit out of it. It is not me alone, lakhs and lakhs of workers have done their best. We will have to look at their end also," he added.

Asked whether it was Sonia Gandhi's persuasion that finally settled the conflict, Mr Shivakumar said: "I don't want to bring Mrs Gandhi or the Gandhi family into this. I just met Rahul (Gandhi) ji. I met Mallikarjun Kharge. I met AICC (All India Congress Committee) office bearers, that's it."

On power-sharing with Siddaramaiah after their tussle for power, Mr Shivakumar said: "The work has to start. It needs a week or something to start. Let it start...let us see the success story."

He dismissed questions about how the Congress would deliver on its five guarantees promise, believed to cost about ₹ 51,000 crore.

"You leave it to us, we have a dedicated team for it. We have just worked out all the economics," he said, not elaborating. 

After the finalisation of Karnataka Chief Minister and its cabinet, Congress leader UT Khader was nominated as the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Monday. UT Khader won the Vidhan Sabha election for the fifth time. He is likely to file a nomination for the post on Tuesday morning.

Formalities of signing the nomination papers extending support to the leader will be done by CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar.

The nomination has come as a surprise as there were rumours of names like RV Deshpande, TB Jayachandra, and HK Patil to be announced as the next Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly. According to reports, State Congress in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and National General Secretary KC Venugopal met UT Khader and discussed the matter with him.

The senior Congress leader held the position of deputy opposition leader in the last assembly. This year he won the election from Mangalore Constituency in Dakshin Kannada district. During the cabinet reshuffle scheduled to take place after two years, UT Khader was promised to offer a ministerial position by the Congress party, reports local media. 

The nomination of UT Khader for the role of speaker reflects Congress' focus on providing opportunities to minority community leaders. The party is also trying to maintain their representation in important positions.

Karnataka's victory worked as a major morale booster for the Congress and the rest of the opposition parties. The oath-taking ceremony of the Karnataka CM and cabinet turned into a show of opposition strength when several opposition leaders including, Bihar CM Nitesh Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, NCP leader Sharad Kumar, etc.

The opposition is actively trying to unite to prepare for the Lok Sabha election 2024. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Monday said that the opposition will hold a meeting with a large number of opposition leaders soon. As of now, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is leading the charge of uniting the opposition parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of next year's Lok Sabha Polls.

Mangaluru, May 26: Senior Congress leader B Ramanath Rai on Friday urged the state government to form a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the ‘politically motivated’ murders that took place in the district in the last few years.

Addressing reporters at the Congress office here, Rai said many youths, belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities have been victims of political violence in the district in the last few years.

He said there should be a comprehensive probe into these murders after preparing a list of the victims. Congress workers were not involved in these political murders and the role of BJP and other communal outfits in the communally sensitive district should be probed, the former minister said.

The Congress government will not tolerate violence of any kind in the coastal region, he said.