Karnataka: Siddaramaiah sworn in as CM with Shivakumar as deputy

Congress leader Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the chief minister of Karnataka at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar also took oath as the deputy chief minister in the presence of thousands of Congress workers, senior party leaders, and politicians of nearly 20 regional parties. Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office to the leaders.

Moreover, DG Parameshwara, KH Muniyappa, KJ George, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy, BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, and MB Patil were also sworn in as ministers in Siddaramaiah's cabinet. The cabinet will also include MLA Priyank Kharge, the son of Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge. He won the Chittarpur seat by nearly 14,000 votes. Notably, this will be 75-year-old Siddaramaiah's second term as the Karnataka CM.

Several big political names, including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan, and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, attended the swearing-in ceremony. Former Jammu and Kashmir CMs, Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, among others, were also present.

Speaking at the ceremony, Gandhi said the Congress "defeated hatred," adding his party won because it stood with the poor, Dalits, Adivasis, and backward classes. "We had the truth, poor people," he said, adding the first cabinet meeting would be held within two hours, and the five promises the Congress made would become laws. "We will give you a clean, non-corrupt government," Gandhi stated.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to elect a new Leader of the Opposition. Former CM Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said a meeting of newly elected BJP MLAs and the defeated candidates would be held in the coming days in this regard. Last week, the party was defeated in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections and lost the only southern state it governed.