Bengaluru, May 20, 2023, IANS

Bengaluru, May 20 (IANS) Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday took oath as the new Karnataka Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, at the swearing in ceremony of the new Congress government in the state.

The oath of office was administered to the two leaders by state Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at ceremony currently underway at the Kanteerava Stadium here.

This is the second tenure for Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister. He previously served between 2013 and 2018.

While he took oath as the 24th Chief Minister in the name of God, Shivakumar took in the name of his spiritual guru Shri Gangadhara Ajja.

While, G. Parameshwara took the oath of office in the name of the Constitution, veteran Congress leaders K.H. Muniyappa and K.J George took oath in the name of God.

AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yachury, CPI General Secretary D. Raja, NCP veteran Sharad Pawar are among the prominent politicians are in attendance at the ceremony.

Tamil superstar Kamal Hassan, Kannada super star Shivaraj Kumar, popular actor Duniya Vijay, actress-turned-politician Ramya, actress Nishvika Naidu, senior actress turned politician Umashree and film director, producer V. Rajendra Singh Babu attended the event.

Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar joined their hands and waved at the crowd when they arrived at the venue.

Later, Rahul Gandhi joined them as the crowd cheered. Nearly a lakh of people are attending the swearing in ceremony.

Taking to Twitter ahead of the ceremony, Rahul Gandhissaid: "Great to be back among the people of Karnataka. Looking forward to the swearing in ceremony of the new Congress government, which will be a people centric government, focussed on bringing progress."