Yediyurappa takes oath as Karnataka chief minister
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yediyurappa on Friday was sworn-in as the new chief minister of Karnataka.
The swearing-in ceremony commenced at 6.30 pm on Friday -- and after a few weeks of an overly-stretched political drama.
"The Governor administered the oath of office and secrecy to Yediyurappa around 6:30 pm at a simple ceremony in the well-lit 'Glass House' on the sprawling lawns of Raj Bhavan," a state official told IANS.
State Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar conducted the 10-minute ceremony on the dais, with the rendering of the National Anthem in the beginning and end of the event.
Draped in white safari suite, with a folded green shawl over his shoulders, the 75-year-old Yediyurappa took oath in Kannada in the name of god in the presence of dignitaries, special invitees and top officials of the state, including police officers.
Hundreds of party's leaders, legislators, cadres and Yediyurappa's family members were also present at the event amid tight security.
This is the fourth time Yediyurappa, who hails from Shivamogga district in the picturesque Malnad region of the state, has become chief minister.
Among the prominent party leaders present on the occasion were BJP's state in-charge Muralidhar Rao, former BJP chief minister Jagadish Shettar, former Assembly speaker K.G. Bopaiah, former ministers Basavaraj Bommai and BR Sriramuly and G. Karunakar Reddy, elder brother of Ballari mining baron G Janardhan Reddy.
Party's senior leader and former state chief minster SM Krishna also attended the event.
Party's Lok Sabha members Shobha Karandlaje and Pratp Simha were also seen seated in the audience.
Sporting victory signs from his both hands and smiling, Yediyurappa greeted the gathering on the occasion.
As announced earlier, a miffed Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leaders, including their former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao boycotted the ceremony.
BJP workers earlier held celebrations across the state after the party staked claim to form the government three days after the fall of the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition front of the Congress and the JD(S).
Party workers danced to drumbeats in various parts of the state, burst crackers and raised slogans hailing the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A festive atmosphere prevailed at the BJP state headquarters in Malleswaram and near Yediyurappa's residence, where workers distributed sweets.
Special prayers were offered to the village deity in Bookanakere, Yediyurappa's birth place in Mandya district, to ward off any hurdles in his latest term as chief minister.
Grand celebrations were also held in his native Shivamogga district.
In the floor test on July 23, the JD-S-Congress coalition failed to win the confidence motion by 6 votes as they could muster only 99 against 105 of the BJP in a house of 204, excluding the Speaker and in the absence of 20 legislators -- including 14 of the Congress, three of the JD-S, two Independents and one of the BSP.
Yediyurappa has been given a week's time to prove his party's majority in the House.
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