Karnataka gets new CM
After days of high drama and power-broking, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy yesterday took oath as Karnataka's 24th chief minister, while Congress state president G Parameshwara was sworn in as his deputy.
Kumaraswamy, aka 'Kumaranna', was administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor Vajubhai Vala in front of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, as a host of national and regional leaders looked on.
"I will be the king and not the kingmaker," Kumaraswamy had said in the run up to the Karnataka polls. His words proved prophetic as the 58-year-old Vokkaliga leader has now donned the crown despite his JD(S) finishing a distant third in the electoral battlefield.
This will be Kumarawamy's second term as the chief minister of Karnataka since 2007, when he last held the post for 20 months.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan -- her counterparts in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Kerala respectively -- were in attendance at the ceremony.
Ahead of taking oath, Kumaraswamy said there would be certain limitations in a coalition government and he would have to take his coalition partner, the Congress, into confidence over a number of matters.
Speaking to reporters at Mysuru after worshipping Goddess Chamundeshwari at the Chamunda Hill temple, the JD(S) leader said the new government will waive farmer loans after improving the state's financial outlook.
The election result for 222 out of 224 assembly constituencies resulted in a fractured mandate, with the BJP emerging as the single largest party (104 seats) only nine seats short of a simple majority mark of 112.
The Congress with 78 seats and JD(S) with 37 seats, and two Independent candidates, formed a post-poll alliance with a total of 117 MLAs.
What followed was a high-voltage political drama in the state, as governor Vajubhai Vala invited BJP's B S Yeddyurappa to form a government on May 16, and gave him 15 days to prove majority, amid huge uproar by the opposition.
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