India: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar take oath as new Karnataka chief minister and deputy CM
Top congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, among 100,000 attend ceremony
Bengaluru: Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday took oath as the new Karnataka Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, at the swearing in ceremony of the new Congress government in the state.
The oath of office was administered to the two leaders by state Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at ceremony currently underway at the Kanteerava Stadium here.
This is the second tenure for Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister. He previously served between 2013 and 2018.
While he took oath as the 24th Chief Minister in the name of God, Shivakumar took in the name of his spiritual guru Shri Gangadhara Ajja.
While, G. Parameshwara took the oath of office in the name of the Constitution, veteran Congress leaders K.H. Muniyappa and K.J George took oath in the name of God.
Siddaramaiah,74, launched several welfare schemes during his five-year tenure as Chief Minister from 2013 and it helped the Congress campaign during the assembly polls which had several people-oriented promises.
During his long political career, Siddaramaiah has lost elections but has bounced back due to his strong determination and his quest for “social justice”.
Siddaramaiah became the Finance Minister in the cabinet of then Karnataka Chief Minister HD Deve Gowda.
He won from Chamundeshwari in a bypoll. When assembly constituencies were reorganised in 2008, he entered the assembly from Varuna and was appointed leader of the opposition.
Congress won 135 seats in the 224-member Karnataka assembly pushing BJP to 66 seats in the results declared on May 13.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yachury, CPI General Secretary D. Raja, NCP veteran Sharad Pawar were among the prominent politicians in attendance at the ceremony.
Tamil superstar Kamal Hassan, Kannada super star Shivaraj Kumar, popular actor Duniya Vijay, actress-turned-politician Ramya, actress Nishvika Naidu, senior actress turned politician Umashree and film director, producer V. Rajendra Singh Babu attended the event.
Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar joined their hands and waved at the crowd when they arrived at the venue.
Later, Rahul Gandhi joined them as the crowd cheered. Nearly 100,000 people attended the swearing in ceremony.
Taking to Twitter ahead of the ceremony, Rahul Gandhi said: “Great to be back among the people of Karnataka. Looking forward to the swearing in ceremony of the new Congress government, which will be a people centric government, focussed on bringing progress.”
The Congress supporters stood outside of Siddaramaiah’s residence early morning in anticipation and celebration. Posters featuring the Gandhi family, Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah were put up in Bengaluru earlier today.