Exactly a week after Congress’s emphatic win in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah is all set to take oath as Chief Minister for the second term today, along with his deputy D K Shivakumar and a group of legislators as Ministers.
Siddaramaiah, the 75-year-old, will become the CM for the second time 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 are over next year.
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.
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 Kanteerava Stadium here. The venue is the same place Siddaramaiah took oath in 2013, when he became Chief Minister for the first time.
Opposition unity is all to be showcased in the swearing-in of Congress leader Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Saturday, as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin and a host of leaders will descend on this southern state in a coming together of the non-BJP bloc ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Even as the grand old party seeks to promote opposition unity ahead of the hustings next year, TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, however, would be conspicuous by her absence at the event at Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
The party, however, would have a representation in the event but the ruling party in Karnataka saw her absence as a “dampener.” Besides Kumar, those who have confirmed their presence include Stalin, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, according to Congress sources. Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge has also invited leaders of JMM, RJD, Shiv Sena, SP, PDP, CPI(M), CPI, MDMK, RSP, CPI(ML), VCK, RLD, Kerala Congress and IUML for the ceremony, the sources said. However, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala criticised the Congress for not inviting the state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to the swearing-in ceremony, saying the move shows the grand old party’s immature politics and weakness. Congress’s move has proved that it cannot carry out the mission of bringing together the secular democratic forces of the country against the BJP’s “fascist” politics, LDF Convenor E P Jayarajan said in Kannur in Kerala.
“Now, what anti-BJP stand is the Congress party going to adopt in the country?” he asked, speaking to reporters. Congress leads the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala. West Bengal CM Banerjee has designated TMC Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar for the programme. “Banerjee skipping the event has come as some kind of a dampener, especially after her recent statement that in 2024 Lok Sabha elections, her party will support the Congress where it is strong”, a Congress leader said. “Wherever the Congress is strong, let them fight. We will give them support; there is nothing wrong (in that). But they also have to support other political parties,” Banerjee said recently. Her statement came soon after Congress emerged triumphant against the BJP in the southern state bagging 135 seats in the 224-member Assembly. Nitish Kumar, who has also been stressing on opposition unity to take on the BJP next year said he has been invited by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for the swearing-in ceremony. “It (Karnataka assembly poll) was an important election. Also, I have an old friendship with him (Siddaramaiah). I will be going tomorrow,” he told reporters in Bihar’s Darbhanga on Friday.
