Karnataka Assembly Session begins today with RV Deshpande as pro-term Speaker

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot today administered the oath of office to senior Congress leader RV Deshpande as pro-tem Speaker for the Legislative Assembly session.
Two days after senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah took oath as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka, the first Legislative Assembly session in the southern state began today.

It will be held for three days till 24 May. All the 224 newly elected MLAs will be administered oaths during the three-day session, which will also witness the election of the new speaker. Meanwhile, Congress workers were seen sprinkling cow urine and performing Pooja at the State Assembly in Bengaluru.

The workers said that they are purifying Vidhana Soudha. Earlier, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar met with his predecessor Basavaraj Bommai at the State Assembly in Bengaluru. He also met with BJP leader and former Union Minister SM Krishna. Shivakumar’s daughter married SM Krishna’s grandson in 2021.

Senior Congress leader RV Deshpande is the pro-tem Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the ongoing session.
Congress leader Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the second time on Saturday after the party’s thumping victory in the Assembly elections.
DK Shivakumar was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka. Eight Congress MLAs were also sworn in as ministers in the Karnataka Cabinet during the oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru.
Soon after being sworn in as the chief minister, Siddaramaiah said that the first Cabinet meeting has issued orders for the implementation of five guarantees which were promised by the party before the elections.
Addressing a press briefing after the first Cabinet meeting in Vidhan Soudha, here, Siddaramaiah said, “Five guarantees in the manifesto were promised and the order for the implementation of those five guarantees was given after the first cabinet meeting. All will be in force after the next cabinet meeting which will be called within a week.”
The five ‘main’ guarantees are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti); Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi); 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya); Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi) and free travel for women in public transport buses (Uchita Prayana).