Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, who were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, respectively, received a congratulatory message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Eight other Congress MLAs were sworn in as Ministers in the Congress-led new government.
"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.
A week after the Congress won the sssembly elections in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the Chief Minister along with his deputy DK Shivakumar. Even after the comfortable win in polls, grabbing the top post in the state was not easy for 75-year-old Siddaramaiah as the party's state chief Shivakumar had presented his case for the CM post in a very strong manner.
However, Siddaramaiah had the last laugh after central leadership held prolonged parleys to break the tense deadlock for the top post. The top brass of the Congress party including the Gandhi family members - Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge were present on the occasion.
The Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states including Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel attended the event amid the Opposition's show of unity ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Congress had emerged as the single largest party in Karnataka after winning the May 10 assembly election. It won 135 seats in the 224-member Karnataka assembly, while BJP managed 66 seats.
