Kumaraswamy swearing-in LIVE: Safeguarding interest of the farming community our top priority, says Karnataka CM-designate

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused an early hearing to a petition moved by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) challenging the upcoming oath-taking ceremony and appointment of H D Kumaraswamy as Karnataka Chief Minister. Read More

HD Kumaraswamy said, "All the promises made in the manifesto will be implemented. Safeguarding the interest of the farming community is our top priority."

Amit Shah also asked the Congress to explain to the people of Karnataka why they were celebrating even when most of their ministers had lost the election. “Only Congress and JD(S) are celebrating, people of Karnataka are not (celebrating),” he said.Taking a swipe at the rival party, Shah said the Congress has found a new way of portraying defeat as its victory, adding that he hopes this new definition of victory continues till 2019 as it will benefit the BJP.

Meanwhile, BJP chief Amit Shah, justifying the party’s bid to form the government in Karnataka, had said it would have been against the mandate of the southern state if they had not done it. “The mandate given by people of Karnataka was against Congress. There was no confusion about it. If we had not staked claim to form govt, it would have been against the mandate of Karnataka’s people,” Shah said while addressing a press conference in party office in New Delhi.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara, expressing his apprehensions about the difficulties that lie ahead of the coalition government in the state, said, “I do understand the sentiments of many people that we should not have gone with the JD(S). But there was a need to stop the BJP from coming to power again in Karnataka. Keeping this in mind, our seniors took a decision to support the JD(S). We all must accept their decision,” he said.

“We may see difficult times ahead. We are visualising the challenges ahead, but we need to bear all the hardship to build a strong party,” the KPCC chief said.

Karnataka assembly polls, held on May 12, threw up a fractured verdict, with the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the Karnataka polls winning 104 seats. However, the saffron party fell short of a simple majority. Kumaraswamy staked claim to the government immediately after BJP’s B S Yeddyurappa announced his resignation. He met Governor Vajubhai Vala on Saturday evening who invited the coalition to form the government in the state.

Kumaraswamy is expected to face the floor test in the state Assembly, within 24 hours of being sworn in. The MLAs of both the alliance partners, JD(S) and Congress, meanwhile, will stay confined to their hotels till the floor test.

Kumaraswamy assured the Congress leaders that he would provide good governance “without posing any problem to the Congress and its leaders”. He sought the blessings of Sonia who told him that he should discuss politics with Rahul and she could only give him her blessings.

The JD(S) leader drove to Rahul Gandhi’s Tughlaq Lane residence around 7 pm on Monday after his meeting with BSP chief Mayawati. Over coffee, Kumaraswamy told Rahul and Sonia Gandhi that the Congress-JD(S) pact should be a “long-term relationship”. Both leaders said the “coalition should run smoothly, with coordination”.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao called on HD Deve Gowda and his son Kumaraswamy to offer his wishes and expressed his inability to attend the swearing-in ceremony. DMK working president MK Stalin, who was earlier scheduled to attend the ceremony, said on Tuesday that he would be unable to attend Kumaraswamy’s oath-taking ceremony due to the violence in Tuticorin that killed at least 11 people.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav will also attend the swearing-in ceremony with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.  Others on the guest list are Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and MNM chief Kamal Haasan. Read More

The oath-taking ceremony for Kumaraswamy and Parameshwara Wednesday will have Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and party president Rahul Gandhi as prominent guests. The two Congress leaders are scheduled to meet the 78 Congress MLAs at the Hilton Hotel where they are housed to congratulate them for sticking together through the exercise of government formation.

According to sources in the JD(S), “There are not many concerns in the JDS about the appointment of ministers but there are concerns of dissidence in the Congress if ministers are picked before the trust vote.”

The top JD(S) leadership – H D Devegowda and Kumaraswamy – Tuesday denied reports of differences between the coalition partners on Congress MLAs like D K Shivakumar and M B Patil for ministerial posts. “We are not interfering in any way with the Congress’s choices. It is left to the Congress to decide who it wants in the ministry,” Devegowda said.

Venugopal said, "A coordination committee to deal with issues between the two coalition partners will also be constituted in two days."

“We had a meeting today to decide the cabinet formation of the government lead by Kumaraswamyji. We have taken 2-3 decisions. Out of 34 ministries, 22 will go to Congress including deputy chief minister and 12 will go to JD(S. With the Chief Minister, one deputy CM will also be sworn in tomorrow. Congress state president Parameshwara is the nominee to that post. The rest of the ministers and portfolios will be decided after the floor test,” said Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal after the meeting.

After initial disquiet over power-sharing, the newly formed JD(S)-Congress coalition will take office Wednesday and names of the ministers in the Cabinet will be announced a day after the new government clears a trust vote on May 24, Kumaraswamy said Tuesday.

A day before JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, his party and the Congress hammered out a final deal on the 34-member Cabinet which will comprise 12 JD(S) ministers and 22 from the Congress. The JD(S) also agreed to Dalit leader and state Congress president G Parameshwara as Deputy CM and Congress leader K R Ramesh as Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly. Read more

When asked that Roshan Baig and DK Shivakumar were also in the race for Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Deputy CM designate G Parameshwara said, "It's the high command which decides all these, they chose me. I thank them immensely but the point is they are also eligible but they gave me this opportunity." (ANI)

Visuals of celebrations from outside HD Kumaraswamy's residence in Bengaluru. (ANI photo)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to observe the swearing-in ceremony of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government as 'Anti-People's Mandate Day' in the state on Wednesday, according to ANI. In a statement on Tuesday, the BJP termed the alliance between the Congress and the JD-S as an 'unholy' one, alleging that they "hijacked the people's mandate". BJP president for Karnataka, BS Yeddyurappa will lead the demonstrations in Bengaluru.

HD Kumaraswamy will take oath as Karnataka CM at 4:30 pm on Wednesday at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.

Welcome to our LIVE blog. JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy will be sworn in as the Karnataka chief minister in presence of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, today. Follow to get the latest updates.