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Ahead of the Siddaramaiah's oath-taking ceremony as Karnataka chief minister on Saturday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that eight MLAs will be sworn in as ministers in the cabinet while also stating that a strong government has been voted to power in the state.
Kharge said that he will be present on the occasion and is leaving for Bengaluru for the same in a short while. "Today is the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister 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," said Kharge while talking to ANI. The oath ceremony will take place at 12.30 pm today in Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru. Congress on Thursday announced that party leader Siddaramaiah will be the next Karnataka Chief Minister and DK Shivakumar will be his sole Deputy Chief Minister. Shivakumar will also remain as the Congress' Karnataka Pradesh chief till the Lok Sabha polls said at the party's headquarters here. Crediting the party's emphatic victory in Karnataka to the people of the State, Venugopal said that both Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar "deserve" to become the chief ministers. Congress invited the leaders of like-minded parties to the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, sources said. According to sources, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, who recently met Maharashtra Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar recently in Mumbai, have also been extended an invitation to the swearing-in ceremony. Sources said that the invitation has also 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. An invitation was also sent to Trinamool Congress. TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister designate Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister designate DK Shivakumar on Saturday on behalf of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Gandhi family including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be present on the occasion. Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states including Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel will also be present. 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 (ANI)
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