Karnataka swearing-in ceremony: ‘We won because we stood with poor, Dalits, adivasis,’ says Rahul Gandhi

“The difficulties you faced in the last five years, only you and I know,” said Gandhi. “After Congress’s victory, many things were written as to how Congress won this election, different analyses were done but I want to say that Congress won because we stood with the poor, Dalits, and Adivasis, backwards. We had truth, poor people. BJP had money, police and everything but the people of Karnataka defeated all their powers.”

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Veteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah, and KPCC president D K Shivakumar were sworn in as the next Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru today. Congress MLAs including G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge, Ramalinga Reddy, and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan too sworn in as Ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet.

Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Karnataka government, Gandhi and the party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge both vowed to turn the party’s five main poll promises into laws.

With its victory in the southern state, the Congress party was able to defeat hate, Gandhi said. “Love has won,” he added.

The swearing-in ceremony took place in the presence of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and several Opposition party leaders including Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

This comes after days of hectic parleys, post which the Congress named Siddaramaiah as the chief minister, Shivakumar his deputy. While Siddaramaiah, 75, is a backwards-class leader with over five decades of political experience and is considered one of the three remaining mass leaders of the state, KPCC president DK Shivakumar, who hails from the Vokkaliga community, is seen as the architect behind the victory in Karnataka.