Security beefed up in Shivakumar's home district as Karnataka CM name yet to be decided

RAMANAGARA: Security was stepped up in Ramanagara, the home district of Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar, on Wednesday as a precautionary measure in light of his supporters staging protests at multiple places after some media outlets claimed that he lost the race for the Chief Minister's post to Siddaramaiah.

The move comes amid intense speculation over the next Chief Minister with the Congress saying a decision on it is likely later today or Thursday and a new Cabinet in the state would be in place in the next 48 to 72 hours.

An alert has been sounded in Ramanagara where police personnel were deployed at important public places and the district Congress office to prevent any untoward incident, official sources said.

The police presence was beefed up in particular in Kanakapura where Shivakumar hails from and got re-elected to the Karnataka Assembly in the May 10 polls.

In the just-concluded election, the Congress scored an emphatic victory by winning 135 seats while the BJP garnered only 66 seats and the JD(S) got 19.