D K Shivakumar To Finally Take ‘Prathijna’ As Karnataka Congress President: B S Yediyurappa Grants Permission For Virtual Swearing-In Ceremony

The Karnataka Congress will finally see its new chief taking oath after Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa finally gave the go-ahead to the opposition to hold its virtual swearing-in ceremony.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president-designate D K Shivakumar thanked the Chief Minister and said the dates for the event would be announced soon. This comes a day after the rejection of the proposal by the state government for the third time made news yesterday (10 June).

The Congress had called the rejection political vendetta and even mocked the virtual rallies being organised in other parts of the country by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In a media address, the main trouble-shooter of the Congress in the state, D K Shivakumar had mocked the Chief Minister saying that he had always thought of Yediyurappa, with whom he is known to have an amicable personal rapport, as a leader who is known to "keep his word, walk the talk" and not one to resort to such mean politics.

Calling the denial a black mark on democracy and a record in the political history, Shivakumar had mocked various BJP leaders, who had gone about conducting gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He had nudged Yediyurappa that since "law and order was a state subject it was up to the CM to take a call and permit the conduct of this event".

And in less than 24 hours, the Chief Minister seems to have accepted the request of the Congress strongman, and given the go-ahead.

On 5 June, Shivakumar had written a letter seeking permission and looked forward to finally holding the event on 14 June. But the state government, citing the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs that prohibits any public gathering other than marriages and funerals, had denied the party the permission to hold any such rally.

The government had cited the order from the ministry that only permits 50 people for marriages and 20 people for funerals and prohibits the conduct of any social, political, cultural, academic, religious events and congregations.