Bengaluru: At the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru today, veteran Congressman Siddaramaiah and KPCC President D K Shivakumar took the oaths of office as the new chief minister and deputy chief minister of Karnataka. The Siddaramaiah Cabinet also saw the swearing-in of Congress MLAs G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge, Ramalinga Reddy, and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan as ministers.
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and other prominent members of the Congress attended the swearing-in ceremony. Other opposition party leaders there included MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, Sharad Pawar, and Farooq Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Express reported.
After several days of hectic negotiations, the Congress appointed Siddaramaiah as chief minister and Shivakumar as his deputy. While DK Shivakumar, the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, who is from the Vokkaliga group, is regarded as the mastermind behind the triumph in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, a 75-year-old leader of the backward classes with more than 50 years of political experience, is one of the three remaining mass leaders of the state.
Rahul Gandhi, a Congress leader, expressed gratitude to the Karnataka people for their support after Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar were sworn in. He stated during the swearing-in ceremony that the Siddaramaiah-led administration will uphold the five pledges made in the party's manifesto, "In the first Cabinet meeting of the new K'taka govt in the next 2 hours, all five 'guarantees' will become a law", adding that the party was able to win in Karnataka as they "stood by the truth" and "had the support of the poor".
The five pledges that were mentioned in the manifesto are:
Gruha Lakshmi: The scheme aims to provide two thousand rupees a month to Every Woman head of a house. “We are keeping the money in the hands of women to ensure that they're in control and in charge of their own life,” says the manifesto.
Yuva Nidhi: This scheme aims to provide support to the Youth of Karnataka for two years by paying ₹3,000 to unemployed graduates and ₹1,500 to unemployed diploma holders every month.
Anna Bhagya: Under this scheme, 10 kgs of rice will be provided per person per month to BPL families.
Gruha Jyoti: This scheme promises to provide 200 units of free electricity for every single household in the state.
Saakhi program: This scheme aims to provide free bus tickets for women to travel around Karnataka