 "Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar")
Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister for the second term, along with state Congress President D K Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister, and eight legislators as Ministers on Saturday, exactly a week after the party swept the Assembly polls in Karnataka.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Chief Minister and his Cabinet at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here, where Siddaramaiah had taken oath in 2013, when he became Chief Minister for the first time.
The Legislators who were sworn in as Ministers are: G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge (AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge's son), Ramalinga Reddy, and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.
Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended the swearing in ceremony, while former AICC President Sonia Gandhi was absent. Chief Ministers of Congress ruled states Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukku (Himachal Pradesh) and several top party leaders were also in attendance.
Congress chief Kharge had invited leaders of several like-minded parties for the swearing-in ceremony. The event seemed to be a show of strength for opposition parties amid unity efforts to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, NCP President Sharad Pawar, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mahbooba Mufti, actor-politician Kamal Haasan, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI General Secretary D Raja among others attended the event.
A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Thursday had formally elected Siddaramaiah as its leader and Chief Minister, following which he staked his claim with the Governor, who invited him to form the government.
The 75-year old Siddaramaiah will become the Chief Minister for the second term after his earlier five-year stint from 2013; while 61-year old Shivakumar, who had earlier worked as Minister under Siddaramaiah, will also continue as the party's Karnataka state president till Parliamentary elections next year.
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