PM Modi Congratulates Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar On Becoming CM, Deputy CM Of Karnataka

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated Karnataka's new Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar.

Siddaramaiah and his D K Shivakumar took oath as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

"Congratulations to Shri @siddaramaiah Ji on taking oath as Karnataka CM and Shri @DKShivakumar Ji on taking oath as Deputy CM. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure," the Prime Minister tweeted.

Also, former CM Basavaraj Bommai congratulated his successor Siddaramaiah upon taking oath as the new Chief Minister. "Heartiest congratulations to Siddaramaiah for assuming the office as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka and his cabinet members," the BJP leader tweeted.

Apart from Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, eight legislators took oath as ministers as Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Chief Minister and his Cabinet.

G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge (AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge's son), Ramalinga Reddy, and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan are part of his cabinet.

Going by the reports, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar have been authorised to pick 10 ministers each by the central leadership.

However, the swearing-in ceremony became a stage to display the Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Tejashwi Yadav and many others attended the event.

Speaking at the occasion, Rahul Gandhi targeted the BJP saying that Congress won the Karnataka polls because it stood with the poor, Dalits, Adivasis and backwards. "Nafrat ko mitaya, Mohabbat jeeti," he said.

The former party chief said that Congress had truth while the BJP had money which was defeated by the people of the state. "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 the truth and poor people. BJP had money, police and everything but the people of Karnataka defeated all their powers," he added.