This will be Kumarawamy's second term as the chief minister of Karnataka since 2007, when he last held the post for 20 months.

Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Kumaraswamy took oath as Karnataka chief minister on Wednesday. Congress' G Parameshwara took oath as the deputy CM of the state.

In his tweet targeting the Modi government, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the future of civil services aspirants was in danger as the RSS wants to 'manipulate' the system of cadre allocation.

According to sources, there is a proposal to have two deputy chief ministers to strike a balance between the two parties. Congress's G Parameshwara is frontrunner for the deputy chief minister's post.

Addressing his first press conference after BS Yeddyurappa resigned before floor test last week, Amit Shah said the Congress has found a new way of portraying defeat as its victory.

The Congress has no right to preach about Constitution and Democracy. It is the same party which banned the media during emergency. We snatched 14 states from them, but they are celebrating our defeats in a few bypolls.

The Congress, which won 78 seats in comparison to Kumaraswamy's party's 38, will get the lion's share of the ministries, although the portfolios are yet to be worked out.

Clarifying that no discussion has taken place so far on the allocation of ministerial berths, Kumaraswamy termed reports on the power-sharing formula of 30 months each between the parties as "bogus".

Gandhi, who addressed the media shortly after Yeddyurappa announced his resignation, as the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) could not muster the numbers in the assembly, said the Congress will work with other opposition parties to defeat the BJP.   

However, questions are being raised on the surprising move by the two allies, more than a year after elections were held to the respective assemblies which appeared to be aimed at embarrassing the BJP.

Meanwhile, newly sworn in Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today said he was "100 per cent sure" of winning the vote of confidence in the assembly and completing the five-year term.

BJP legislature party leader B S Yeddyurappa was on Thursday sworn in as the chief minister of Karnataka for a second time, after an overnight high-voltage legal battle in the Supreme Court which refused to stay his swearing-in.

"A big thank you to all those who voted for the Congress in these elections. We appreciate your support and will fight for you," the Gandhi scion said on Twitter.

While BJP lost the battle it initially won, Congress at the last moment sought the defensive mode as it shook hands with the Janata Dal (Secular), to form the government.

Karnataka Election Results 2018 LIVE Updates: The early trends showed that Congress and BJP in a neck-and-neck fight, while JD(S) kept a distant third position, but soon the picture changed as BJP shot miles ahead of Congress, while JDS indicated a performance far better than expected by any exit poll or political pundits. 

Addressing a press conference on the issue, Sitharaman claimed that Chidambaram didn't disclose its investments to tax authority, violating Black Money Law, which was brought by Modi govt as part of its drive against black money and to prosecute those Indians who have secretly stashed illicit wealth abroad. 

Taking to Twitter, the Gandhi scion said that he enjoyed meeting the regional and national media at his "packed" press conference in Bengaluru and then took a jibe at the prime minister.

Recalling how, despite being an Italian by birth, Sonia Gandhi made sacrifices for the country, the Congress president said his mother has lived the larger part of her life in India.

Suggesting that the political equation may potentially change after the general elections next year, Akhilesh said that the new numbers will decide who will be the prime minister.

Addressing a press conference on the last day of the campaign for Karnataka Assembly elections, Gandhi rejected BJP's poll strategy of personal allegations and claimed that Congress will retain power in the state 'hands down'.