"I don't want to disclose what has happened in last 5 years ....": DK Shivakumar

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 15 : With Congress deliberating the choice of chief minister in Karnataka, DK Shivakumar on Monday said the party won 135 seats with him as state party unit chief and he did not want to disclose what happened in the last five years.

"It is my birthday today, I will meet my family. Afterwards, I will leave for Delhi. Under my leadership, we have 135 MLAs, all in one voice said that the matter (of appointing the CM) is to be left to the party's high command. My aim was to deliver Karnataka and I did it," Shivakumar told reporters.

"Congress high command called Siddaramaiah and me to Delhi. Sonia Gandhi and Kharge had given me the post of president. I did not lose hope when MLAs left our party and we lost our government. I do not want to disclose what has happened in the last five years. I am a single man, I believe in one thing that a single man with courage becomes a majority. When all our MLAs left the party (JDS-Congress coalition government in 2019), I did not lose heart," he added.

Shivakumar held a meeting with his supporters at a farmhouse near Bengaluru on Monday.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is the other contender for the post, has reached Delhi.

Three central observers - Sushil Kumar Shinde, Deepak Bawaria and Jitendra Singh - have also reached Delhi. They will present their report to the party chief Mallikarjun Kharge about their discussion with party MLAs.

The newly-elected Congress MLAs, who met on Sunday, passed a resolution authorising Kharge to elect the leader of the Congress legislature Party.

The Congress swept to power in Karnataka, winning 135 seats in the 224-member assembly and reducing BJP to 66 seats.