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Congress veteran Siddharamaiah will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the second term on Saturday afternoon, along with Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar as his deputy.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the CM and his cabinet at the swearing-in ceremony scheduled to be held at Bengaluru's Kanteerava Stadium at around 12:30 PM. Eight MLAs will also be sworn in on the occasion as ministers, party leaders said. Congress has invited several leaders of like-minded parties to the swearing-in ceremony. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that it is a matter of delight that a new and strong Congress government has come to power in Karnataka and various leaders are going to participate in the swearing-in ceremony scheduled on Saturday. "Today is the swearing-in ceremony of the CM, Deputy CM, and eight MLAs who will take oath as the ministers (in the state cabinet), everyone is attending it. I am going for the same. It is a matter of delight that a new and strong Congress government has come to power in Karnataka. This will benefit Karnataka and it is creating a good environment in the country," Kharge said while talking to the media before leaving for Karnataka. After days of deliberation, Congress general secretary (organization) KC Venugopal on Thursday made the announcement at the party headquarters in the national capital that party leader Siddaramaiah will be the next Karnataka Chief Minister and DK Shivakumar will be Deputy Chief Minister. Ahead of the oath-taking ceremony in Karnataka, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday evening. "We have come to meet our leaders, Rahul Ji, Sonia Ji, Priyanka Ji, and Kharge Ji to invite our leaders for tomorrow. They had come and given their sweat and proper directions. So, I wanted to invite them personally. Later, we are discussing the cabinet formation," Shivakumar told the reporters. As per the sources, the invitation has been sent to like-minded opposition parties and their leaders including Hemant Soren, Sitaram Yechuri, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, and Farooq Abdullah, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. On Friday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that he had accepted the Congress' invitation to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka's new Chief Minister and his cabinet on Saturday. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has also reached Bengaluru to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Karnataka Cabinet. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was also invited for the swearing-in ceremony of the Karnataka Chief Minister designate Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister designate DK Shivakumar on Saturday, however, she conveyed her best wishes and designated Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar TMC Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha to attend the ceremony. "The CM designate of Karnataka Siddaramaiah and his other colleagues called to personally invite All India Trinamool Congress Chairperson and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for swearing-in tomorrow. She conveyed her best wishes and designated Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar TMC Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha to attend the ceremony," tweeted TMC MP, Derek O'Brien. Siddaramaiah won from the Varuna constituency in the state assembly election while DK Shivakumar from the Kanakapura constituency. A leader with strong grassroots connections, Siddaramaiah has been associated with the formulation of state budgets for several years and has an eye for detail. Karnataka has complex caste equations and a history of voting out incumbent governments. Only three Chief Ministers before Siddaramaiah - S Nijalingappa (1962 and 1967, three terms including 1956); D Devaraj Urs (1972 and 1978), and RK Hegde (1983 and 1985) had two terms as Chief Minister. Siddaramaiah,74, launched several welfare schemes during his five-year tenure as Chief Minister from 2013 and it helped the Congress campaign during the assembly polls which had several people-oriented promises. During his long political career, Siddaramaiah has lost elections but has bounced back due to his strong determination and his quest for "social justice". Siddaramaiah was the Leader of the opposition in the outgoing assembly and his test will be to quickly deliver on manifesto promises to help his party carry the momentum of its election victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress manifesto lists five main guarantees. "Gruha Jyoti: 200 units of free power to all households, Gruha Lakshmi: Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family, Anna Bhagya: 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household; Yuva Nidhi scheme: diploma holders will get an allowance of Rs 1,500 per month for two years, while graduates will receive Rs 3,000 per month and Shakti: Free bus rides for all women in the state". Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) secured 19 seats in the results declared on May 13. (ANI)
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