Will obey party high command decision, have no say: Siddaramaiah on pitch for three more Deputy CMs

livemint.com:

leadership, the chief minister on his part made it clear that he has no say on the issue and it is for the high command to decide. "He (Rajanna) has expressed his opinion, but ultimately high command has to decide. The high command had said that one Deputy Chief Minister was enough and had appointed one.

He (Rajanna) has said that he will speak to the high command on three more DCMs. Let him," PTI reported Siddaramaiah as saying. "I don't have anything (to say).

Ultimately high command has to make the decision. Whatever is the decision taken by the high command, I will obey it," the chief minister added. Rajanna had pitched for the three posts to be given to leaders from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat, SC/ST and minority communities.

Currently, DK Shivakumar from the Vokkaliga community is the only Deputy Chief Minister. He is also the state Congress president. Rajanna's pitch for three DCMs comes despite the Congress decision at the time of cabinet formation that Shivakumar would be "the only" deputy CM -- amid stiff competition between him and Siddaramaiah for the chief minister's post after the Assembly election results came out in May this year.

It was said that it was one of the commitments that the Congress leadership had made to Shivakumar, while convincing him to give up his claim for the CM post and to take up the role of deputy chief minister. Reacting to Rajanna's statement, state home minister G Parameshwara, who was a DCM aspirant when the government was being formed in May, said on Saturday that there is nothing wrong in Rajanna asking for more DCMs. Rajanna has said it with good intention, he said.