Raman Singh takes oath as Ch'tisgarh CM

Beginning his second successive term Dr Raman Singh took oath as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh on Friday during the swearing-in ceremony held at the Police Parade ground in Raipur, reports Ejaz Kaiser.

Beginning his second successive term Dr Raman Singh took oath as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh on Friday during the swearing-in ceremony held at the Police Parade ground in Raipur.

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Governor ESL Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Raman Singh at 12.30 pm. Singh took the oath in the name of God. The elected BJP Legislature party on Wednesday last had unanimously chosen Singh as the chief minister to head the government in the state.

According to party sources the chief minister would soon take a decision on constituting his new council of ministers after discussing the probable names with the party High Command in Delhi.

The BJP retained a comfortable majority in Chhattisgarh with 50 seats in the elections to the 90-member state assembly. The main opposition Congress Party secured 38 seats and placed at a distant second spot. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) notched 2 seats.

Elaborate security arrangements for the oath-taking ceremony was made by the police deploying around 150 cops.

Top Central BJP leaders including Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani, BJP national president Rajnath Singh, national spokesperson Ravi Shanker Prasad, Venkaiah Naidu, Uttarakhand chief minister B C Khanduri, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, Actress Hema Malini and Smriti Irani and others attended the swearing in ceremony.

According to the Election Commission notification the election process in Chhattisgarh has to be completed by December 13.