New Karnataka ministers invoke Allah, Buddha, Basavanna, and Ambedkar in oath | Azad Times

Bengaluru witnessed the swearing-in ceremony of ministers in Karnataka's new government at the Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday, May 20. In addition to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, eight legislators were sworn-in as ministers of cabinet rank.

While Siddaramaiah took his oath in the name of god, Shivakumar invoked his spiritual guru Gangadhar Ajja for his oath.

Among the ministers, Satish Jarkiholi invoked Buddha, Basavanna and Ambedkar while taking his oath. While G Parameshwara, MB Patil, KJ George, Priyank Kharge and KH Muniyappa took an oath invoking God, Ramalinga Reddy chose to skip invoking, while taking the oath.

Zameer Ahmed Khan invoked Allah and his mother during his oath-taking. Zameer, a prominent Congress MLA from Chamarajpet, captured attention as he took his oath in English.

In 2018, during the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers, Zameer Ahmed Khan had apologised to the people of Karnataka for reciting the oath of secrecy in English. He had admitted that he was not fluent in Kannada and expressed his concern about potentially making mistakes while taking the oath.

The swearing-in ceremony of senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, and Shivakumar as the sole Deputy Chief Minister of the southern state, witnessed the presence of a distinguished gathering of political leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge. Chief Ministers from Congress-ruled states, such as Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of Himachal Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, were also present on the occasion. Actors Kamal Hasan, Shivarajkumar, and Duniya Vijay also attended the ceremony.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the people of Karnataka defeated the "hatred and money power of the BJP," while also ensuring that the five guarantees made by the party will be implemented within hours of the first cabinet meeting.

He said that Congress came to power for only one reason and that was the party's decision to stand by the poor, the weak, the backward and the Dalit.

"We had the truth, poor people on our side. The BJP had money, power and everything but the people of Karnataka defeated all of it. They (people) also defeated their (BJP) corruption. They also defeated their hatred. As we said during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we wiped the hatred and brought love,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the newly sworn-in Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Deputy DK Shivakumar, wishing both the Congress leaders a "fruitful tenure." Modi, who is in Japan, tweeted, "Congratulations to Siddaramaiah on taking oath as Karnataka CM and DK Shivakumar on taking oath as Deputy CM. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure."