Congress leader Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the 22 nd chief minister of Karnataka by the Governor H R Bharadwaj on Monday.
The five-minute solemn ceremony, which took place exactly at 11.40 am, was witnessed by more than 50,000 supporters who had assembled at the Sri Kanteerva Stadium, the venue of the function.
Mr.Siddramaiah, the fifth Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader to assume office as Chief Minister of Karnataka, took the oath of secrecy in Kannada in the name of truth. A huge cheer rent the air as he read out the oath administered by the Governor.
ADVERTISEMENT
The overflowing crowd indulged in sloganeering hailing him as the saviour of the backward classes and other weaker sections. People jostled for space within the stadium to get a glimpse of their leader. There was chaos in and the around the stadium as the police had put up barricades at every step obstructing the entry of people including those with VIP passes. Many MLAs, former ministers and other important dignitaries including the City Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy found it difficult to enter the stadium.
The event was attended by well known intellectuals - G Venkatsubbaiah, Jnanapith awardees Girish Karnad and Chandrashekar Kambar, writers S G Sidaramaiah, M M Kalburgi, Kalegowda Nagawara and Chandrashekar Patil.
Mr. Siddarmaiah took the oath in the presence of Union Ministers – Mallikarjun Kharge, M Veerappa Moily, Rehman Khan, K H Muniyappa, former External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, AICC leaders Madhusudan Mistry, Oscar Fernandes, B K Hariprasad and Luizinho Faleiro apart from KPCC president G Parameshwara and Congress MLAs.
ADVERTISEMENT
While prominent opposition leaders such as former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and JD (S) President H D Kumaraswamy and BJP President Prahlad Joshi and KJP leader B S Yeddyurappa were conspicuous by their absence, BJP MP D B Chandre Gowda and BSR Congress party president B Sriramulu greeted Mr Siddaramaiah.