H D Kumaraswamy was sworn in as the chief minister of the southern Indian state of Karnataka on Wednesday, heading the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by state Governor Vajubhai Vala at a grand ceremony in the Vidhana Soudha complex, the seat of power in state capital Bengaluru.Vala also administered the oath to state Congress chief and prominent Dalit community leader G Parameshwara as the deputy chief minister. Other members of the council of ministers will be inducted after the Kumaraswamy government wins the trust vote on Friday.
Attired in the traditional dhoti and white shirt, Kumaraswamy took the oath in the name of God and the people of “Kannada Nadu”. Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, chief minsiter of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal; N Chandrababu Naidu and Pinarayi Vijayan, her counterparts in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala respectively, were present. Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of Opposition in the eastern state of Bihar Assembly; Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who have struck an alliance in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh; Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and socialist leader Sharad Yadav were also in attendance.
The show of strength by a galaxy of national leaders and regional satraps is being seen as a strong signal to the Bharatiya Janata Party about the possibility of formation of a broad-based front to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Lok Sabha (parliamentary) polls next year.The BJP boycotted the ceremony and observed a “Black Day” during which it held statewide protests against the new coalition government, which it called “unholy”.
