Bengaluru, June 3- D.K. Shivakumar, one of Congress’s best-known faces from south India, took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka this evening, bringing to an end a long tussle that had made headlines for the better part of two years.
Dr. G. Parameshwara, who served as the State’s Home Minister, took oath as his deputy. Choosing him for the post is seen as a balancing act of the Congress, which had to pull out Siddaramaiah from the top post to make way for Shivakumar.
Shivakumar was sworn-in as the 25th Chief Minister at 4.15 p.m. at Lok Bhavan. This completes the leadership transition from outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that started last week.
Hours before the swearing in ceremony, the Congress released a list of 13 cabinet ministers who will be sworn in along with the CM. While the Congress has decided to appoint G. Parameshwara as the Deputy Chief Minister, the other names include Yathindra Siddaramaiah, U.T. Khader, M.B. Patil, K.J. George, K.H. Muniyappa, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy, Krishna Byregowda, Priyank Kharge, Eshwar Khandre, Byrathi Suresh and Sharan Prakash Patil. The Cabinet is expected to be expanded after Rajya Sabha elections.
Among the Congress leaders who attended the event were Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, and Congress Chief Ministers V.D. Satheeshan (Kerala), Revanth Reddy (Telengana) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh). A host of religious leaders, students, pourakarmikas, farmers’ leaders, Dalit leaders and Kannada activists were also present at the event.