‘My best wishes for fruitful tenure’: PM Modi extends wishes to Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar

NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated newly sworn-in Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and extended wishes to the Congress leaders for their “fruitful tenure”

“Congratulations to Shri @siddaramaiah ji on swearing in as Chief Minister of Karnataka and Shri @DKShivakumar ji on swearing in as Deputy Chief Minister. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure,” PM Modi tweeted in Kannada.

Congratulations to Shri @siddaramaiah Ji on taking oath as Karnataka CM and Shri @DKShivakumar Ji on taking oath as Deputy CM. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 20, 2023

Congress leaders Siddaramiah and DK Shivakumar were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka on Saturday.

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to both leaders at the swearing-in ceremony held at Bengaluru’s Kanteerava Stadium.

Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the second time.

The top brass of the Congress party including the Gandhi family members – Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge were present on the occasion.

The Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states including Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel attended the event.

The party invited numerous leaders of opposition parties.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah were also present during the swearing-in ceremony.

Other opposition leaders who were present include Sharad Pawar, and actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan.

Actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan attended the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected Karnataka Government in Bengaluru.

Ahead of the ceremony, Rahul Gandhi, Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah were seen holding each other’s hands in the air as a show of strength and unity.

A leader with strong grassroots connections, Siddaramaiah has been associated with the formulation of state budgets for several years and has an eye for detail.

DK Shivakumar will continue as the Karnataka Congress president till the end of parliamentary elections.

Believed to be a mass leader, Shivakumar started his political journey at the young age of 18 when he joined NSUI, the student wing of Congress, and became its President for the Bangalore district unit at an early age (1981-83).

Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) secured 19 seats in the results declared on May 13. (ANI)