New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the newly sworn-in Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar, wishing both the Congress leaders a “fruitful tenure”.
PM Modi, who is in Japan, tweeted: “Congratulations to Siddaramaiah on taking oath as Karnataka CM and D.K. Shivakumar on taking oath as Deputy CM. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure.”
Besides Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, eight more ministers took oath during the swearing-in ceremony held in Bengaluru’s Kanteerava Stadium.
The swearing-in programme was attended by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and 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 Tejashwi Yadav, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D. Raja, NCP veteran Sharad Pawar were also among the prominent politicians who were in attendance at the ceremony.
Tamil superstar Kamal Hassan, Kannada superstar Shivaraj Kumar, popular actor Duniya Vijay, actress-turned-politician Ramya, actress Nishvika Naidu, actress-turned-politician Umashree and film director, producer V. Rajendra Singh Babu also attended the event.
The Congress won 135 of 224 seats in the Assembly polls, while the BJP was reduced to 66 and the JD-S could only manage to win 19 in the May 10 elections in the state.
(IANS)
