HD Kumaraswamy, leader of the JD(S) legislature party and the Congress-JD(S) combine, was sworn-in as the 25th CM Karnataka on Wednesday on the footsteps of the majestic Vidhana Soudha (the seat of the legislature) in the presence of a large gathering of VVIPs and citizens. With this, Karnataka saw a second CM sworn-in within a span of seven days.
Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office to Kumaraswamy just six days after he had sworn-in BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa at the glass house in Raj Bhavan. But Yeddyurappa resigned on Saturday just ahead of a crucial floor test, when it became clear that he did not have the numbers to prove his majority on the floor of the House.
Kumaraswamy's swearing-in ceremony was attended by a galaxy of opposition leaders coming together in a show of unity against the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
As previously reported, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejaswi Yadav and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury occupied front seats.
Other than VVIPs, thousands of people attended Kumaraswamy's swearing-in ceremony. The road between Legislative Assembly building and the Karnataka High Court was cordoned off.
Tamil Nadu’s Leader of Opposition MK Stalin was also slated to attend the ceremony, but cancelled in the wake of unrest and loss of lives in police firing in Thoothukudi at anti-Sterlite protesters.
Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao who was also expected to be present had visited the Gowdas on Tuesday citing prior engagements for Wednesday.
The possibility of HDK’s Chief Ministership came into the reckoning after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi called former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on May 15 (the day of the results of Karnataka Assembly elections) to forge a post-poll alliance.
The BJP, which had won 104 seats, was seven short of magic number with two seats in Bengaluru yet to go for polls. The Congress-JD(S) combine has a favourable number of 115 (including the JDS pre-poll ally-BSP candidate). The combine also claims the support of two independents.
Following Kumaraswamy, Congress state president G Parameshwara was sworn-in as the Deputy CM. This is the first time that a Dalit man was sworn-in as the Deputy CM in the state despite the demand for a Dalit CM for decades now.
The Congress and JD(S) combine have also finalised that KR Ramesh Kumar, the former Minister for Health in the Congress government, would be the Speaker.
On Friday, a floor test will be held for Kumaraswamy, following the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.