Sonia, Rahul Gandhi to attend Kumaraswamy's oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru

Twitter photo (@INCKarnataka)

BENGALURU: Amid the behind-the-scenes bargaining on portfolios in the new Karnataka Assembly, the Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Monday met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. 

The Chief Minister-elect Kumaraswamy, who will take oath alone on May 23 as per Zee Media sources, said that both the Congress leaders have agreed to be present in the swearing-in ceremony. Kumaraswamy was accompanied by JDS Secretary General Danish Ali and Congress's KC Venugopal.

"I wanted to show my respect and regards to Gandhi family. That's why I came here. I requested them further presence in oath taking ceremony. Both of them agreed to be present at the oath-taking ceremony," Kumaraswamy told news agency ANI.

Taking to Twitter Rahul Gandhi said, "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."

The oath-taking ceremony will witnesses a gathering of non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief ministers and chief of opposition parties.

Kumaraswamy earlier met Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati at her residence here and invited her for his oath ceremony. The lone MLA of Mayawati's BSP will be part of the state Cabinet.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, Puducherry Chief Minister Narayanasamy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will also mark his presence on the occasion.

Kumaraswamy has also invited Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to attend his swearing-in ceremony.

On Saturday, Kumaraswamy was invited by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to form the government in the state, after BJP's B S Yeddyurappa stepped down ahead of the floor test in the state assembly.

While Kumaraswamy was earlier expected to swear-in as Karnataka Chief Minister on Monday, the ceremony later got pushed to May 23 due to the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The JDS fought the May 12 Assembly elections in alliance with the BSP while the party formed a post-poll alliance with the Congress following a hung verdict on May 15. 

The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, while the Congress was leading in 78 constituencies and the JDS managed to bag 37 seats. The BSP has one MLA and two seats went to Independents. The newly-formed alliance has claimed support of 117 MLAs in the 224-member House with an effective strength of 221.

(With inputs from ANI)