Siddaramaiah, D K Shivakumar to be sworn in as CM, Dy CM this afternoon
8 legislators likely to take oath as Ministers
Bengaluru (PTI): Siddaramaiah will be sworn in as Chief Minister for the second term, along with state Congress President D K Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister on Saturday afternoon, exactly a week after the party swept the Assembly polls in Karnataka.
According to sources in the Congress, eight legislators are likely to be sworn in as Ministers along with them.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were in Delhi till late Friday night discussing with the party's high command the names of ministers to be inducted into the new cabinet and the allocation of portfolios. While the CM-designate has returned to Bengaluru, the KPCC chief is on his way back.
Sources said those who are likely to be sworn-in as Ministers are: G Parameshwara (SC), K H Muniyappa (SC), K J George (Minority-Christian), M B Patil (Lingayat), Satish Jarkiholi (ST-Valmiki), Priyank Kharge (SC and AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge's son), Ramalinga Reddy (Reddy), and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan (Minority-Muslim).
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has invited leaders of several like-minded parties for the swearing-in ceremony, which will see Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administering the oath of office and secrecy to the Chief Minister and his Cabinet at 12.30 PM at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here.
The venue is the same place where Siddaramaiah took oath in 2013, when he became Chief Minister for the first time.
The event may turn out to be a show of strength for opposition parties amid unity efforts to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress on Thursday named Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister and Shivakumar, a strong contender for the top post, as his only deputy, ending the tense deadlock after prolonged parleys involving its central leadership.
A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) later on Thursday formally elected Siddaramaiah as its leader and Chief Minister, following which he staked his claim with the Governor, who invited him to form the government.
The 75-year old Siddaramaiah will become the Chief Minister for the second term after his earlier five-year stint from 2013; while 61-year old Shivakumar, who had earlier worked as Minister under Siddaramaiah, will also continue as the party's Karnataka state president till Parliamentary elections next year.
The first daunting task that Siddaramaiah is expected to face is putting in place a Cabinet with the right combinations that will strike a balance in having representatives from all communities, regions, factions, and also from among the old and new generation of legislators.
With the sanctioned strength of the Karnataka Cabinet being 34, there are too many aspirants for ministerial berths.
Kharge, former Congress Presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, also General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, several Congress Chief Ministers and leaders are expected to attend the event.
Kharge has invited Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. Invitations have also been sent to National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, among others.
Many of them have arrived or have sent in representatives on their behalf.
Expectations are also that at the first cabinet meeting after the swearing-in, the new government might take measures to implement the five 'guarantees'.
The Congress has promised to implement the 'guarantees' 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 graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti), on the very first day of assuming power in the state.
"Fulfilling the promises made to the people is our first priority," the Deputy Chief Minister-designate Shivakumar said on Friday.
Elaborate security measures have been put in place in and around the venue to ensure that the event goes on smoothly without any hurdles amid the presence of several national level leaders and those from other states, officials said, adding that traffic movement will also have to be managed as the event will take place in the heart of the city.
According to sources, a total of three platforms/ stages have been set up and LED screens have been installed for people to watch the swearing-in ceremony.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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