Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi during the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister and Ministers, at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (PTI photo)
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was not present during the ceremony at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium where DK Shivakumar was sworn in as deputy chief minister and eight legislators as cabinet ministers.
In a show of opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Saturday .
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was not present during the ceremony at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium where DK Shivakumar was sworn in as deputy chief minister and eight legislators as cabinet ministers.
The PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states—Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh)–, and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav (RJD) were also present.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, actor-politician Kamal Haasan, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI General Secretary D Raja were also present.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, was conspicuous by her absence at the event, which was attended by thousands as the Congress sought to promote opposition unity.
Banerjee has nominated TMC’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar for the programme.
A Congress leader said, “Banerjee not attending the event is kind of disappointing, especially after her recent statement that her party will support the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls where it is strong.”
He said, ‘Wherever the Congress is strong, let them fight. We will support them; There is nothing wrong (in it). But they have to support other political parties as well,” Banerjee said recently.
His statement came soon after the Congress won an emphatic victory over the BJP in the southern state by winning 135 seats in the 224-member assembly.
“I have been invited by Congress President (Mallikarjun Kharge). It (Karnataka assembly elections) was an important election. Also, I have an old friendship with him (Siddaramaiah). I will go tomorrow,” Nitish Kumar told reporters in Darbhanga on Friday.
Kumar told reporters to hold their horses when repeatedly asked about a meeting of opposition leaders that his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee has asked him to organize in Bihar.
“Let me come back from the function tomorrow. We will take a decision at the appropriate time.”
Former Union minister M Veerappa Moily on Friday said the swearing-in ceremony can also be a launchpad for opposition unity and a show of strength and solidarity.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,