Signaling his displeasure over the alliance between Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) will not be attending the swearing-in ceremony of his new ally, JD(S) chief HD Kumaraswamy. Instead, the CM will visit Bengaluru on Tuesday evening to congratulate the Chief Minister elect at his residence.
The Chief Minister’s office informed that owing to his earlier commitments he wouldn’t be able to attend the swearing-in-ceremony on Wednesday. The office added that hence the CM had decided that he would visit Bengaluru and congratulate Kumaraswamy a day-before he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
However, it is speculated that by not attending the ceremony the Chief Minister wants to project himself as a leader who is against both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In Karnataka, the JD(S) and Congress have formed a post poll alliance and will be facing a trust vote soon. BJP leader BS Yedyurappa could not prove his majority and resigned as Chief Minister before the floor test on Saturday.
The swearing-in-ceremony has a long list of Chief Ministers and leaders, who oppose the BJP and have positioned themselves as alternatives to national parties.
The eminent guests include: Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati (coalition partner of the JD(S)) and RJD chief Tejaswi Yadav, DMK working president MK Stalin, actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan, Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu among many others.
The event of course will have the presence of Congress party president Rahul Gandhi and the party’s former president Sonia Gandhi.
Though KCR and his son KT Rama Rao were invited for the event, but by shunning the ceremony, KCR wants to send a message that his vision for 2019 election is formation of a federal front devoid of national parties like the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
KCR aspires to build a federal front, by stitching a coalition with regional parties like JD(S), Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Samajwadi Party.
In this regard, he made a visit to Kolkata, announced his grand plan after meeting the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu, DMK chief MK Stalin. Days before the Karnataka election, he visited Bengaluru and lent his moral support to JD(S) to win the elections.