Siddaramaiah expressed hope of “cooperation” from the Center in running the state.
Bengaluru:
Newly appointed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi after congratulating him on his new post and wished him a “fruitful tenure”.
Siddaramaiah further expressed hope of “cooperation” from the central government in running the state.
A tweet from the official handle of the Karnataka chief minister said, “Thank you @PMOIndia @narendramodi for your good wishes. We look forward to your cooperation in realizing cooperative federalism.”
Earlier, Modi congratulated Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar on taking oath as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka respectively.
Along with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, eight MLAs took oath as ministers.
The Prime Minister tweeted, “Congratulations to Shri @Siddaramaiah ji on being sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka and Shri @DKShivakumar ji on being sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure.”
Also, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai congratulated his successor Siddaramaiah on being sworn in as the new chief minister.
“Hearty congratulations to Siddaramaiah on assuming office as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka and members of his cabinet,” the BJP leader tweeted.
Siddaramaiah made Bommai the chief minister just a week after the Congress won 135 seats in the 224-member house.
However, soon after taking oath, Siddaramaiah blamed Modi for the state’s loss as the legitimate special grant of Rs 5,495 crore mentioned in the interim report of the 15th Finance Commission was not given to him.
Siddaramaiah said the previous BJP government also did nothing to clear the state’s dues.
“In the interim report of the 15th Finance Commission, it was recommended that Karnataka should get a special grant of Rs 5,495 crore, which the BJP government in Karnataka did not take. Was there any government that caused more damage to the state?” Siddaramaiah told reporters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)