Second Coming of Siddu as Chief Minister
Bengaluru: The first session of the 224-Member 16th Assembly of Karnataka, after the Siddharamaiah-headed Congress Government was sworn-in on Saturday, began at Vidhana Soudha here this morning with the Protem Speaker R.V. Deshpande conducting the oath-taking of all the newly elected MLAs.
While the oath-taking will be held today and tomorrow (May 23), the election of the Assembly Speaker will be held on May 24, the third and final day of the first Assembly Session.
Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, who was elected from Varuna in Mysuru district, was the first to take oath as MLA, followed by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar (Kanakapura) and Cabinet members Dr. G. Parameshwara, K.H. Muniyappa, Priyank Kharge, M.B. Patil, Satish Jarkiholi and K.J. George.
The Congress returned to power by a thumping majority winning 135 seats while the BJP came a poor second with 66 seats, the JD(S) with 19 seats and others in 4 Constituencies.
The election to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly was held on May 10 and the counting of votes was taken up on May 13.
Siddharamaiah took oath as the new CM on May 20 along with D.K. Shivakumar as Deputy CM and eight other senior Congress MLAs — Dr. G. Parameshwara, K.H. Muniyappa, Priyank Kharge, M.B. Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, K.J. George, Ramalinga Reddy and Zameer Ahmed Khan — as Cabinet Ministers.
Dy.CM Shivakumar was all smiles this morning and was seen shaking hands with his fellow party MLAs as well as MLAs from the Opposition BJP and JD(S).
Former CM Basavaraj Bommai (Shiggaon) of the BJP, who took oath in the name of God, former BJP Minister R. Ashok, who contested against DKS in Kanakapura and other BJP MLAs congratulated Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar during the oath-taking.
Before the commencement of the session, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered oath to Senior Congress MLA R.V. Deshpande as the Protem Speaker of the Assembly at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru this morning. State Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma and other senior Officials were present.
DKS calls on S.M. Krishna
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar (DKS) called on former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna at his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru and sought his blessings.
Krishna, who was conferred with the coveted Padma Vibhushan award in March this year, is considered as the Political Guru of DKS. Also, Shivakumar’s elder daughter Aishwarya Shivakumar is married to S.M. Krishna’s grandson Amartya Hegde, son of Café Coffee Day Founder late V.G. Siddhartha and Malavika Hegde (daughter of S.M. Krishna).
This post was published on May 22, 2023 7:45 pm