BENGALURU, June 3: State Congress President D K Shivakumar took oath as Karnataka Chief Minister on Wednesday and 13 other legislators, including senior leader G Parameshwara, were sworn in as ministers in his Cabinet.
In the presence of AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and outgoing CM Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar took oath in the name of seer “Gangadhar Ajja”, while holding a copy of the Constitution.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to Shivakumar, Parameshwara and others at Lok Bhavan here. Parameshwara, who is set to be designated as Deputy CM, took oath in the name of Dr B R Ambedkar.
Along with Shivakumar and Parameshwara, the legislators, who took oath as ministers were—K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Ramalinga Reddy, Satish Jarkiholi, Krishna Byregowda, Priyank Kharge, U T Khader, Eshwar Khandre, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, Byrathi Suresh, and Sharan Prakash Patil.
Barring Khader and Yathindra, all the others were ministers in the previous Siddaramaiah government.
Shivakumar, a 64-year-old Vokkaliga strongman, was elected leader of the Congress Legislature Party on May 30, following Siddaramaiah’s resignation as chief minister on May 28.
AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala, CMs of Congress ruled states, several top Congress leaders, dignitaries and invitees were present at the swearing-in. (PTI)
