Bengaluru: A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Thursday formally elected Siddaramaiah as its leader and Chief Minister of Karnataka, following which he staked his claim with the Governor, who invited him to form the government.

Ending days of suspense, the Congress central leadership earlier on Thursday announced that Siddaramaiah would be the chief minister, while state party chief D K Shivakumar would be his only deputy.

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The meeting of newly-elected Congress MLAs, MLCs and MPs, which took place at Indira Gandhi Bhavan here, was also attended by AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and two other central observers -- former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and AICC general secretary Jitendra Singh.

According to Surjewala, Shivakumar moved a resolution to elect Siddaramaiah as the new leader of the CLP. All the members of the CLP endorsed it unanimously.

Following this, Siddaramaiah along with Shivakumar and other Congress leaders met Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at Raj Bhavan and staked his claim to form the government.

The Governor invited Siddaramaiah to take oath as Chief Minister and Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister along with their team members at 12.30 PM on May 20 at Kanteerva Stadium here, the Governor's letter addressed to the new CLP leader said.

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In the May 10 elections to the 224-member Assembly, the Congress scored an emphatic victory by bagging 135 seats, while the ruling BJP and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19 seats respectively.

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