Karnataka swearing-in Highlights: 3-day Legislative Assembly session from Monday, says CM Siddaramaiah

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has been seen at the swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru.

Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy CM-designate DK Shivakumar display a show of unity with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghell, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav are at the swearing-in ceremony.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti attends the swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru. 

1. Guests have begun to arrive at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
2. Deputy CM-designate DKS has already arrived at the venue. 
3. CM-designate Siddaramaiah has left his residence for the venue. 
4. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have also arrived for the ceremony. 
5. Several Opposition leaders have been seeen at the packed venue.
6. Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar will be sworn in at 12.30 today as as chief minister of Karnataka and deputy chief minister, respectively. 

Karnataka deputy CM-designate DK Shivakumar welcomed Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and other DMK leaders as they arrived at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru for the swearing-in ceremony. 

Actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan is present at the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected Karnataka government.

Congress has not invited either Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal or his Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekar Rao for the swearing-in of its Karnataka government in Bengaluru.

Karnataka deputy CM-designate DK Shivakumar arrived at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru where the swearing-in ceremony will begin shortly.

Priyank Kharge, Dr G Parameshwara and DK Suresh - party MP and brother of Deputy-CM designate DK Shivakumar reach Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, along with Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala arrived at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.

Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah's swearing-in ceremony is set to begin shortly. 

1. Siddaramaiah, 75, is a backward class leader with over five decades of political experience. 
2. He is considered one of the three remaining mass leaders of Karnataka.
3. Siddaramaiah draws his support from the Kuruba community. 

Senior journalist and political observer Vishweshwar Bhat told news agency PTI, “It (invitation to opposition leaders to attend the ceremony) is a brilliant move by the Congress in its efforts to restore its nationwide presence. The Congress is also sending signals from Karnataka for opposition unity.”

Political analyst Ramakrishna Upadhya said the Assembly elections win in Karnataka “is a shot in the arm for the Congress after losing so many elections. The victory is indeed a morale booster for Congress and assert itself ahead of the 2024 elections”.

Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah has left from his residence in Bengaluru for Sree Kanteerava Stadium. Swearing-in ceremony will be held at the stadium shortly.

Congress leader and President Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge said that the party will fulfil its five guarantees made during the state polls in its first cabinet meeting.

"Absolutely, that is the commitment and the Congress will complete that. Five commitments will be fulfilled in the first cabinet meeting," he said.

The term Ahinda may have been coined by the late Devaraj Urs, Karnataka’s first chief minister, in the 1970s, but Siddaramaiah, who will be sworn in as the state’s new chief minister later this week has given his own spin to the term derived from the Kannada acronym for Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits. Read here

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel is in Bengaluru to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Ahead of the oath-taking ceremony, Bhupesh Baghel reached the city on Friday evening.

The Congress released its first list of eight ministers who will take oath today. 

Who are the ministers?

1. Dr G Parameshwara (SC)
2. KH Muniyappa (SC)
3. KJ George (Minority-Christian)
4. MB Patil (Lingayat)
5. Satish Jarkiholi
6. Priyank Kharge (SC)
7. Ramalinga Reddy (Reddy)
8. B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan (Minority-Muslim)

Nitish Kumar was asked about a meeting of opposition leaders, which his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee has asked him to hold in Bihar. "Let me come back from the function tomorrow. We will take a call in due course," he said. 

Mamata Banerjee has designated TMC Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar to attend the ceremony. "Wherever the Congress is strong, let them fight. We will give them support; there is nothing wrong (in that). But they also have to support other political parties," Mamata Banerjee had said soon after Congress scored an emphatic victory in Karnataka. 

Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge has invited leaders of JMM, RJD, Shiv Sena, SP, PDP, CPI(M), CPI, MDMK, RSP, CPI(ML), VCK, RLD, Kerala Congress and IUML for the ceremony, news agency PTI reported.