JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy will be sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government on Wednesday. The ceremony will be attended by many Opposition leaders and chief ministers.

His oath of office and secrecy will be administered by Governor Vajubhai Vala at 4:30 pm in front of the Vidhana Soudha.

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Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara will take oath as the Deputy Chief Minister. His name was finalised in a meeting held between leaders of the Congress and the JD(S) on Tuesday evening.

AICC general secretary in charge of the state K C Venugopal confirmed Parameshwara’s name as the Deputy CM. He told reporters that “Congress president Rahul Gandhi has approved the name of Parameshwara as the deputy Chief Minister in the coalition government.”

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The meeting was attended by JD(S) state president and incumbent Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, KC Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge, HD Revanna, DK Shivakumar and others.

Congress’s Ramesh Kumar, a former minister, will be the next Assembly speaker, while the deputy speaker’s post will go to the JD(S), Venugopal told PTI.

The Congress would have 22 ministers and JD(S) 12, he said, adding that they would be sworn-in after the floor test slated for Friday.

Kumaraswamy will be the second chief minister to take oath in Karnataka within a week, after Yeddyurappa stepped down without facing the floor test on May 19 in the face of an imminent defeat.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, chief ministers of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Kerala — Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan — are among those who are likely to be present.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, one of the most vocal votaries of an anti-BJP alliance, Tejashwi Yadav, Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly, and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah are also likely to attend, besides BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.

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DMK leader M K Stalin, who was also expected to be present in order to put up a show of burgeoning opposition consolidation against the BJP, has cancelled his Bengaluru visit and will instead head for Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, where 11 people were killed in police firing on Tuesday.

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan will also not attend the event, as per reports.

(With agency inputs)