Siddaramaiah takes oath as CM in a show of Opposition unity

It was a deja vu moment in Karnataka Congress’ history on Saturday, as Siddaramaiah became the new chief minister of the state from the same place that had taken the CM’s oath ten years ago. In a packed Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oaths of service and secrecy to Siddaramaiah, deputy CM DK Shivakumar and eight other ministers of the new cabinet.

Among the ministers sworn in were AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge, former deputy CM G. Parameshwara, seven-time MLA K.H. Muniyappa, Lingayat leader M.B. Patil, North Karnataka’s sugar baron Satish Jarkiholi, Congress’ Bengaluru face Ramalinga Reddy, K.J. George and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan. The eight names had been decided after multiple debates and several leaders remain on edge as they hope to be included in the new list.

The new CM had been chosen after four days of tense deliberations. Party leaders had numerous meetings with him and his chief contender Shivakumar, before finally zeroing in on the 75-year old veteran. Shivakumar, who came to terms with the deputy CM post, will remain the state party president until the Lok Sabha polls next year.


In a show of Opposition unity in the face of the parliamentary elections, the party invited Bihar’s CM Nitish Kumar and deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav of Janata Dal, Tamil Nadu’s CM M.K. Stalin of DMK, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP, and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

West Bengal’s CM Mamata Banerjee of the TMC was invited too, but she was conspicuous by her absence, as were any leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party.

CMs from Congress-ruled states were present as well including Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh).

Tamil superstar Kamal Hassan, Kannada actors Shivaraj Kumar and Duniya Vijay, actress-turned-politicians Ramya and Umashree and film producer V. Rajendra Singh Babu also attended the event.