'Both Siddaramaiah, DKS worked hard but only one can be CM'

New Delhi, May 15 Congress leader Syed Naseer Hussain on Monday said even as both former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and state unit party chief D.K. Shivakumar have worked hard and led the party from the front, "only one of the two can be the Chief Minister".

He said that the party leaders would discuss "what is best for Karnataka and its people", and soon, a decision will be taken after discussing with the top leadership,

A meeting of the Congress observers for Karnataka was held on Monday at the residence of INC President Mallikarjun Kharge,

Hussain said both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have worked hard to strengthen the party and led from the front against the BJP.

Speaking to the media outside Kharge's residence after arriving from Bengaluru, Hussain said: "We have our senior leadership, where party chief Kharge and former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are here and here we have general secretary organisation (K.C. Venugopal) and general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala too.

"They will discuss what is best for the state, what is best for the people of the state and what is best for the state Congress. As the Lok Sabha elections would be held next year, we will discuss accordingly," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Asked if any announcement would be made by Tuesday morning, he said: "We will do it as soon as we can, and we will have to make preparations for the oath ceremony."

All three Congress observers former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, party general secretary Jitendra Singh and party leader Deepak Bawaria met Kharge and submitted their report and held deliberations over government formation in Karnataka.

Shinde, Singh and Bawaria were deputed as observers for the Karnataka CLP meeting by Kharge on Sunday.

The observers had returned from Bengaluru on Monday afternoon, after they had held discussions with the party MLAs in the state on Sunday evening.

They had taken the views of the newly elected MLAs in Bengaluru in one-on-one interactions late on Sunday night.

The Congress leadership has called both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for further discussions.

Congress has won 135 out of 224 seats in the state assembly whereas the BJP was reduced to 66 seats.

The JD-S got 19 seats.

aks/pgh