As the days of suspense ended and Congress officially announced Siddaramaiah as the next Karnataka Chief Minister and DK Shivakumar as his Deputy, the state Congress is now prepping up to hold a grand swearing-in ceremony for which invitations have been sent to non-BJP Chief Ministers and other leaders from like-minded political parties from across the country.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who were in a tight race for the Karnataka CM post, would take oath along with other ministers on May 20 at 12:30 pm.
Those who are invited for the oath-taking ceremony are:
- Top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
- Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel
- Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot
- Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu
- Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren is likely to leave on Saturday from Ranchi to attend the ceremony and return the same day
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin received a phone call from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and CM-designate Siddaramaiah who invited him to participate in the ceremony
- Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
- Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav
- Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar
- Former chief minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray
- Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav
- National Conference president Farooq Abdullah
- Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik have also been invited
Earlier in the day, the Congress announced Siddaramaiah as the next chief minister of Karnataka and Shivakumar as his only deputy in the soon-to-formed cabinet.
Announcing the decision taken by Kharge, General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said all leaders, including the top leadership, worked very hard to make Karnataka victory a reality. “We have decided on Siddaramaiah as the chief minister of Karnataka. Shivakumar will be the only deputy chief minister,” he said, adding that Shivakumar will also continue as the party’s Karnataka state president till parliamentary elections are over.
At the same press conference, senior party leader and in-charge for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala said the Congress is committed to fulfil the five promises made during the elections and action would be taken on them in the first meeting of the cabinet.
As per news agency PTI sources, around 20 ministers will also be sworn in along with the chief minister and deputy chief minister, including some from the state legislative council.
Asked about the much-talked-about power-sharing formula between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, Venugopal said the only formula is to share the power with the people of Karnataka. “Ours is a democratic party, we believe in consensus and not in dictatorship,” he said on the hectic discussions held over the last few days.
In the just-concluded elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the Congress witnessed a thumping victory by winning 135 seats, while the BJP got 66 and the JD(S) secured 19 seats.
(with inputs from PTI)
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