Siddaramaiah, the incoming chief minister of Karnataka, and D.K. Shivakumar, his deputy, arrived in New Delhi on Friday (May 19), where they will meet with party leaders to discuss the selection of ministers for the new Cabinet and the distribution of portfolios.
The party’s top brass will also be invited to the swearing-in event on Saturday.
Mr. Siddaramaiah was officially chosen as the Congress Legislature Party’s (CLP) leader on Thursday, May 18. He presented his claim with the Governor, who then asked him to form the government.
At 12.30 p.m. on Saturday (20 May), Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar will take their oaths as Bengaluru’s Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, at the Kanteerava Stadium.
“We want to invite our leaders, we want to invite Rahul ji, Sonia ji, Kharge ji and Priyanka ji for the ceremony. They gave their sweat, direction (to the campaign), so I wanted to invite them personally. Later, we are discussing the Cabinet formation,” Mr. Shivakumar told reporters after arriving in Delhi.
Asked how many Opposition leaders would attend the swearing-in, Mr. Shivakumar said, “that we have requested our AICC president to take care of, for us, first is the Congress president and the Gandhi family, we are here to invite them personally.”
In the first Cabinet meeting, he declared, the promises given to the people of Karnataka by politicians like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi would be kept.
Following frantic negotiations over a three-day period, the Congress declared on Thursday morning that Mr Siddaramaiah would serve as Chief Minister and Mr Shivakumar as his deputy. The two leaders were received warmly upon their arrival in Bengaluru.
Prior to departing for Delhi, Mr. Shivakumar stated that keeping the pledges given to the populace takes precedence.
Cabinet, folks, we’ll let you know about all of that later. We won’t leave the media in the dark, so there’s no need to speculate. We’ll work together, he declared.
Setting up a Cabinet with the ideal lineups that would strike a balance in having representation from all communities, regions, factions, as well as from among the old and young generation of legislators, is the first problem that Siddaramaiah is anticipated to face.
There are too many candidates for ministerial vacancies, considering there are 34 members sanctioned for the Karnataka Cabinet.
All of our national leaders are coming (to the swearing-in event),” Shivakumar said, adding that the voice of the people would be the voice of the Karnataka administration. We will implement all of our ‘guarantees’ on the first day, in the first cabinet, and we will keep our word.
Several national leaders have been invited, and the majority of them will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Mr. Shivakumar also invited leaders of the BJP and JD(S) for the event, stating that as public representatives, they too are part of the government machinery.
Earlier, the Deputy CM-designate also visited Kanteerava Stadium, the venue of the ceremony and inspected the preparations there.
The Congress has pledged to put into effect “guarantees” including 200 units of free electricity for all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs.2,000 per month in assistance for the woman who is the head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of free rice for every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs.3,000 per month for graduates and Rs.1,500 per month for diploma holders (both in the age range of 18 to 25)
