Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, May 21: Unlike former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s hurried swearing-in ceremony, H D Kumaraswamy's oath taking ceremony on Wednesday May 24 in Bengaluru will be a show of strength, with a galaxy of top politicians and leaders slated to attend.
Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are among the top Congress leaders who are expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, who had tied up with Kumaraswamy's JD(S) prior to Karnataka elections will also be present. Chief minister of Delhi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao are also expected to attend the swearing-in.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, DMK working president M K Stalin are also among the invitees.
"I will be taking oath at the Kanteerava stadium. At least three to four lac people will be assembling. Cadres of both JD(S) and Congress have agreed to the coalition and there is no dissent," Kumaraswamy told the media.
On Monday May 21, Kumaraswamy met Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, as well as Mayawati in New Delhi and invited them to the swearing-in cerremony.
According to analysts, Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in ceremony will lay the foundation for the anti-BJP forces to unite ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
It seems that the Karnataka election has paved way for regional parties coming together to form a united front to counter the BJP threat.
"Whereever we feel that the BJP is attacking democracy... you will find the Congress. This means that all of us, the opposition together, in a coordinated manner, will defeat the BJP," Rahul Gandhi had told the media.