Except for two, all others were members of the outgoing cabinet. Yatindra Siddaramaiah, the former CM’s son, and UT Khader, speaker earlier, joined as ministers. A full-fledged Cabinet formation exercise will gather pace in the coming days as the CM has kept 20 positions vacant.
Rahul Gandhi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and RS Surjewala and chief ministers Revanth Reddy (Telangana), VD Satheesan (Kerala) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukku (Himachal Pradesh) attended the swearing in ceremony at Lok Sabha. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to Shivakumar and other ministers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Shivakumar (64), wishing him a good tenure. Modi assured the Centre will work closely with Karnataka for the welfare of the people.
The Congress party’s guarantees remain the foundation of our governance and commitment to social justice, Gandhi said, in a post on X, while thanking Siddaramaiah for his “leadership and service have strengthened Karnataka and improved millions of lives.”
Kharge said he was confident that the collective leadership of the Congress party will further strengthen the ideals of social justice, economic empowerment and inclusive development, in line with the party’s commitment to people.
“I know that the people of the state have great expectations of our government and of me as the new helmsman. Today, Karnataka is a proud state that shines on the global stage. It is my dream to transform Karnataka, which is on the path of development, into a prosperous, self-reliant, and self-respecting state,” Shivakumar said, soon after taking over, while seeking people’s cooperation to turn this dream into a reality.KHAN PAYS PRICE
BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, the high-profile Muslim minister in the previous Siddaramaiah regime, who observers thought would join the cabinet as a deputy chief minister, missed out over a leaked audio clip. Instead, Khader took the place under the Muslim quota.
In the audio clip, Khan and his party colleague Mohammed Siraj allegedly discuss plans to ensure defeat of the Congress candidate Samarth Shamanur in the April 9 bypoll to Davanagere South. Though Khan dismissed it as fake, the clip exacted its heavy political price.
Congratulations poured in on Wednesday for Siddaramaiah on his appointment to AICC’s apex decision making body, the Congress Working Committee. The Congress leadership is now considering tall leaders to replace Shivakumar as president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). Satish Jarkiholi, a serious contender for the post, has lost out as the party has made him a minister.
The AICC is now looking at appointing former general secretary BK Hariprasad as new KPCC president.
Within hours of taking over as CM, Shivakumar appointed former IAS officer LK Atheeq as his financial advisor in an indication that he will keep the finance portfolio.
