Karnataka swearing-in ceremony updates | Siddaramaiah sworn in as Chief Minister, D.K. Shivakumar his Deputy

Addressing the gathering, CM Siddaramaiah thanks all the VIPs who came to Bengaluru for the oath-taking ceremony.

He reiterates the 5 guarantees promised by the Congress during the elections, and promises to fulfil every one of the promises.

A decision on implementing the promises immediately will be taken at the first meeting of the Cabinet, which will take place later today, he said.

​What are Congress’ five key poll promises?​ Read here

“After Congress’s victory, many things were written as to how Congress won this election, different analyses were done but I want to say that Congress won because we stood with the poor, Dalits, and Adivasis, backwards. We had truth, poor people. BJP had money, police and everything but the people of Karnataka defeated all their powers,” said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Bengaluru.

Incumbent MLA from Chamarajpet, B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, registered his fifth victory in the 2023 Karnataka Elections, successfully fending off a new challenger former top cop Bhaskar Rao from the BJP by 53,953 votes. Last year, this constituency was in the news for the Idgah maidan controversy.

Mr. Khan has continued to maintain the Chamarajpet Assembly constituency as his stronghold. He won three times as a Janata Dal (Secular) candidate (the first time in a bye-election), in 2018 and 2023, he won from the Congress.

Mr. Khan was swift in declaring his allegiance to the incoming Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. In December last year. he went as far as to say that he will “sacrifice his constituency” Chamarajapet for him.

One of Bengaluru city’s senior Congress leaders, seven-time MLA and four-time Minister, Ramalinga Reddy is considered the “face of the Congress” in the city. He has served as Minister in the cabinets of M. Veerappa Moily, S.M. Krishna, N. Dharam Singh and Siddaramaiah.

Mr. Reddy won this year’s election from the BTM Layout constituency. He now has eight record wins - he has been undefeated since 1989 from Jayanagar and BTM Layout. In an interview to the The Hindu, Mr. Reddy had cited Bengaluru’s identity as a cosmopolitan city, as a reason behind his faith in Congress’ victory “BJP’s caste, religion, politics and money will not work here,” he had said.

Mr. Reddy’s name has also been doing the rounds for the plum portfolio as the Bengaluru Development Minister. He had previously held this position.

Read our interview with Ramalinga Reddy here

Priyank Kharge won Chittapur constituency by a margin of 13,638 votes, recording his third consecutive victory from the seat.

Priyank Kharge bagged 81,088 votes against 67,450 polled by his BJP rival Manikanta Rathod. The Congress president’s son bettered his victory margin this time compared to the 2018 Assembly election when he defeated the BJP’s Valmik Naik by 4,393 votes.

Priyank Kharge’s BJP rival this time Manikanta Rathod has over 30 criminal cases against his name in five districts, including Kalaburagi and Yadgir. He was also arrested in 2022 after he threatened to shoot Priyank Kharge.

Incumbent MLA from the Yemkanmardi constituency, Satish Jarkiholi has won four consecutive elections from the constituency. Mr. Jarkiholi beat Basavaraj Hundri, the BJP candidate, by over 55,000 votes.

Mr. Jarkiholi’s family has become one of the biggest sugar and molasses-producing families in north Karnataka. The family has also maintained a near monopoly on the politics in the taluk. Four of the brothers are in public life. MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi and Balachandra Jarkiholi are in the BJP, MLA Satish Jarkiholi is in the Congress, and the younger sibling Lakhan Jarkiholi is an unattached member in the Legislative Council.

Upon his victory, Mr. Jarkiholi had told journalists in Bengaluru that he was not very keen on the Deputy Chief Minister post. “I want to accept the responsibility of a Ministry and work responsibly. That will benefit the people of the State.”

A Lingayat, Mr. Patil represents the Babaleshwar constituency in Bijapur district.

Mr. Patil is the chairman of Bijapur Lingayat District Educational Association Society that runs medical, engineering and other colleges. He is a five-time MLA and a former Lok Sabha member. An engineering graduate, he has worked as Home Minister and Irrigation Minister in the past.

Mr. George, a Malayali in the Karnataka Assembly, has his roots at Chingavanam in Kottayam district. A senior leader of the Congress in Karnataka, Mr. George has been representing the party in the Assembly for the sixth time. He was a Minister under Siddaramaiah, managing portfolios such as Home and Bengaluru Development and Town Planning.

K.H. Muniyappa, Congress leader and former Union Minister, was a Lok Sabha member for nearly three decades. Mr. Muniyappa represented Kolar constituency in the Lok Sabha since 1991 before he lost the parliamentary elections in 2019. He won from the Devanhalli Assembly constituency in Karnataka by a margin of over 4,000 votes in the recently concluded Karnataka elections.

Mr. Parameshwara, who was the Deputy CM in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in 2018-19, had also thrown his hat in the ring for the race for CM’s post. Amid reports of him being upset over the denial of the Deputy Chief Ministerial post, Karnataka Congress MLA G. Parameshwara had said that it is time to forget the “individual aspirations” as the “party is supreme” for him. He had further said that there is a need to “look forward” with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections coming.

Mr. Shivakumar took the oath in the name of his local diety Gangadhara Ajjaiah.

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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), former J&K CM and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah being welcomed on stage by KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar.

ANI

ANI

The elevation of 75-year-old Siddaramaiah as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, prior to him being sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka, is a dream come true for the veteran politician who had set his eyes on the coveted position for a second term, after a gap of five years. This comes after a bitter contestation for the top post between him and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar.

Read The Hindu’s profile on him here

ANI

After four-days of hectic parleys in the national capital, the eight-time MLA and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar, has reluctantly accepted the post of the Deputy Chief Minister, at the instance of former AICC president Sonia Gandhi. He will also continue as the president of the KPCC until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Read The Hindu’s profile on him here

The people of Siddaramanahundi village, about 22 km from Mysuru city, are jubilant over 75-year-old Siddaramaiah becoming the Chief Minister for the second time, after a gap of 10 years.

Read the full story here

According to a letter to the Governor by the Karnataka Congress Legislative Party dated May 20, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge, party’s MLAs G. Parameshwara, M.B. Patil, 7-time MP K.H. Muniyappa, K.J. George, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan will be sworn in as Ministers in the State Cabinet during the oath-taking ceremony in Karnataka.

PTI

The Congress, which will form the Karnataka government on Saturday, will in all likelihood announce the implementation of the five “guarantees” it had promised to voters in its poll manifesto, in its first Cabinet meeting.

​​​Read the full story here​​​

Several prominent opposition leaders and Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister and D.K. Shivakumar as the Deputy Chief Minister in Bengaluru on Saturday as the grand old party seeks to promote Opposition unity ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

Prominent among those who will be the star attractions of the event are Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and former Jammu & Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah, the sources said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, would be conspicuous by her absence at the event at Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

PTI

PTI