Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led the celebrations, along with Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and several other guests, by reading the preamble from the grand steps of 'Vidhan Soudha' here with a large number of children and others in front of them joining in unison.

Addressing the gathering, Siddaramaiah said the Congress government has fulfilled four of the five 'guarantees' (pre-poll promises) and "walked the talk".
"Protection of the Constitution is the duty of every citizen", the chief minister said.

Karnataka Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa had said on Wednesday that nearly 2.28 crore people from all walks of life within the country and abroad, have registered to read the Constitution's preamble.

"From within the country and abroad, 2,27,81,894 people have made online registration. We had expected 5 or 10 lakh people to register, but this has become a movement," he had said.

Those from corporate, private, government and banking sectors, people from industries and NRIs from several countries have come forward to participate, and have registered, he added.