The swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday is being seen as the first step towards bringing together parties that are opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mr. Kumaraswamy is set to take oath as the 30th Chief Minister of Karnataka at 4.30 p.m. in front of the Vidhana Soudha. He will be taking oath for the second time, first being in 2006, in the presence of several leaders of regional parties from across the country.
“I have invited leaders of all political parties, who are divided over having electoral alliance with the Congress and without the Congress. This platform could be interpreted as the first step towards coming together of secular, democratic forces against the BJP. I’m confident that this platform will definitely send a message on anti-BJP forces joining hands across the country. I don’t want to elaborate more than this,” said former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda at his Padmanabhanagar residence in Bengaluru.
Party sources said that initially Palace Grounds and Kanteerava Stadium had been planned for the ceremony, which was supposed to be a grand affair. However, with some leaders within the party suggesting Vidhana Soudha to be an appropriate stage for oath taking since several national leaders are coming for the event, the venue was changed.
BSP leader Mayawati, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK leader M.K. Stalin, former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D. Raja, and NCP leader Sharad Pawar are among those invited. Mr. Gowda described his grand plan of bringing together all anti-BJP forces as “my humble attempt in the last phase of my life to protect secular, democratic system in the country.”
