During the oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru on Saturday, as many as eight Congress MLAs were sworn in as ministers in the Karnataka Cabinet.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to the MLAs during the swearing-in ceremony at Bengaluru’s packed Kanteerava Stadium. Priyank Kharge, son of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and MLAs G Parameshwara and MB Patil were among the eight MLAs.
KH Muniyappa, KJ George, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy, and BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan were among the other MLAs who took the oath.
Following the party’s landslide victory in the Assembly elections, Congress leader Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Karnataka’s Chief Minister for the second time on Saturday.
This is the same stadium where Siddaramaiah took his oath as Chief Minister for the first time in 2013.
DK Shivakumar was sworn in as Karnataka’s sole Deputy Chief Minister.
Top brass of the Congress party including the Gandhi family members – Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge were present on the occasion.
The Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states including Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel attended the event.
The party had also sent an invitation to numerous opposition parties and their leaders.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah were also present during the swearing-in ceremony.
Sharad Pawar and Kamal Haasan were among the other opposition leaders present.
In Bengaluru, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan attends the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Karnataka government.
Rahul Gandhi, Shivakumar, and Siddaramaiah were seen holding each other’s hands in the air ahead of the ceremony as a show of strength and unity.