Anurag Kumar
A week after the party’s resounding victory in the 2023 Assembly election, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar were sworn in as the new chief minister and deputy chief minister of Karnataka on Saturday morning. Eight Congress MLAs, including the son of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and the former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, swore in as ministers.
Today, MB Patil, KH Muniyappa, KJ George, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy, and BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan also took their oaths. Patil and Parameshwara were considered potential candidates for chief minister during the standoff between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
The first eight members of the Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar cabinet were approved on Friday following consultations in Delhi between the two leaders and party chief Kharge. They were chosen to ensure a diverse first cabinet for the new Karnataka government and the Congress, which received support from across commnity lines in the May 10 election.
ALSO READ :Opposition leaders Nitish, Stalin, Pawar attend Karnataka swearing-in.
Senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were present for the swearing-in, as was Mallikarjun Kharge. Shortly before the ceremony began, ANI released a dramatic photograph of Rahul Gandhi flanked by the incoming chief minister and deputy chief minister.
Sonia Gandhi, who is credited with breaking the Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar stalemate and convincing Shivakumar to assume a No. 2 position (for now), was absent.
The CM stand-off
In the days following the election results, Siddarmaiah and Shivakumar engaged in a vigorous contest for the position of chief minister. Both candidates were determined to win.
Shivakumar, regarded as the Congress’s troubleshooter, rejected two initial proposals to cede the top post to his rival, including the option to select six portfolios.
Conversations with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi ultimately contributed to his acceptance.
Opposition show of strength (and absentees)
The ceremony, held at Bengaluru’s Sri Kanteerava Stadium, was attended by a phalanx of opposition leaders, including Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav, the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Bihar, respectively; Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar; and ex-Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, was also present, along with the leaders of all other Congress-ruled states – Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu of Himachal Pradesh, and Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan – and actor-politician Kamal Haasan.
Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, and K Chandrashekhar Rao, the chief minister of Telangana, were notable absentees from this mega display of strength by opposition parties ahead of the general election in 2024.
The leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi have been rumored to vie for the prime ministership in 2019, each as the head of a ‘third front’ – a coalition of non-Congress and non-BJP regional parties.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of Bengal, was also absent but sent a substitute.
Election results recap
The 2023 Karnataka Assembly election was a morale-boosting victory for the Congress ahead of the upcoming general election. The party won roughly 43 percent of the vote and 135 of the state’s 224 Assembly seats. The results significantly contradicted exit poll predictions of a close race and a possible hung Assembly; however, one local station was 100% accurate.
The BJP won only 66 seats, down from more than 100 in 2018, as it struggled to overcome anti-incumbency sentiment in a state notorious for voting out incumbents.
The Janata Dal (Secular), which senior leader and ex-chief minister HD Kumaraswamy anticipated would play a ‘kingmaker’ role in the anticipated close race, finished third.
