In a clear indication of the significance that the Congress is attaching to forming a coalition government with the JD(S) in Karnataka, which it sees as a precursor to opposition unity in the run up to the next Lok Sabha elections, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party president Rahul Gandhi will attend the swearing in ceremony of JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy as the new chief minister of the southern state on May 23.
Kumaraswamy, who was in Delhi on Monday, called on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at the Congress chief's Tughlak Road residence to personally invite them to the oath taking ceremony in Bengaluru on May 23. The Congress leaders readily accepted the invite.
In a gesture meant to convey the importance that the Congress gives to the alliance, which is being seen as signifying the readiness of opposition parties to come together to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in the run up to the general elections in 2019, Rahul Gandhi asked state party leaders, who were earlier scheduled to arrive in Delhi on Monday to meet him, to stay put in Bengaluru as he wanted to meet Kumaraswamy first.
“I had a warm and cordial meeting this evening, in Delhi, with Shri H.D. Kumaraswamy ji. We discussed the political situation in Karnataka and other matters of mutual interest. I will be attending his swearing in as CM of Karnataka, on Wednesday, in Bengaluru,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted shortly after the meeting.
The oath taking ceremony is expected to showcase opposition unity, with Kumaraswamy inviting leaders from various regional parties to attend the event. During his Delhi trip, he called on BSP supremo Mayawati, inviting her to the event. He is learnt to have invited West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also to grace the occasion.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that K.C. Venugopal, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, and Kumaraswamy will have a meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday to take a call on issues such as having two deputy chief ministers in the new government, besides the election of speaker.
Meanwhile, reacting to BJP president Amit Shah dubbing the Congress-JD(S) tie-up an 'unholy alliance', senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said Amit Shah had no moral authority to question the post-poll coalition, since the saffron party had attempted to use money and muscle power to buy off MLAs belonging to the rival camp to try and win the trust vote on May 19.
“The vote share of the Congress is two per cent more than that of the BJP. And the combined vote share of the Congress and the JD(S) is 12 points higher than the BJP. So it is wrong to say that the alliance is against the mandate given by the people,” Sharma said. He insisted that the mandate of the people was for a post-poll alliance of the Congress and the JD(S).