Congress leader K Siddaramaiah has been sworn in today as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka at Bangalore’s Kanteerava Stadium. The 64-year-old Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the state’s 22nd Chief Minister by Governor H R Bhardwaj.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by tens of thousands of supporters and many Congress leaders including Union Minister Veerappa Moily and Maharasthra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Mr Siddaramaiah led the Congress party to a huge win in last week’s assembly elections, winning 121 seats in the 224-seat Assembly.
The Congress defeated the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which won only 40 seats and the regional Janata Dal (Secular) which also won 40 seats.
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A lawyer-turned-politician, Mr Siddaramaiah was chosen the Congress Legislature Party leader on Friday, edging out party veteran and Union Labour Minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge.
Mr Siddaramaiah is relatively new in the Congress. He was earlier in the Janata Dal (Secular) party, but quit seven years ago and launched a movement for the development of minorities, backward classes and low-caste Dalits, before joining the Congress.
He is a mass leader and belongs to ‘Kuruba community’ — a numerically strong backward community in the state. He was appointed the opposition leader in the assembly to take on the BJP.
Mr Siddaramaiah has earlier served as Finance Minister in previous governments run by Janata Dal (Secular).