With the fall of BJP's three-day-old government in Karnataka, H.D. Kumaraswamy heading the Congress-JD(S) coalition is set to become the chief minister for a second time on May 23.
The swearing in ceremony is expected to be a show of opposition unity with leaders of several non-NDA parties are expected to attend the function. Kumaraswamy on Saturday said he will personally invite Congress president Rahul Gandhi to the function.
The JD(S) leader also said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, BSP chief Mayawati, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao and several other regional leaders would be invited for the swearing-in ceremony.
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Mamata Banerjee has been campaigning in the national level to form an anti-BJP coalition to take on the Narendra Modi government in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Trinamool Congress chief was among the first to congratulate JD(S) and Congress on coming together to keep the saffron party out of power in Karnataka.
"Democracy wins. Congratulations Karnataka. Congratulations DeveGowda Ji, Kumaraswamy Ji, Congress and others. Victory of the 'regional' front," she wrote on Twitter immediately after Yeddyurappa resigned without facing the trust vote.
BSP and SP, once arch-rivals in Uttar Pradesh, had recently joined hands to take on the BJP in the state. BSP, which which was roped in by the JD(S) as part of its V-O-D-KA (Vokkaliga, dalit and Kannada) strategy, could win only one seat in the elections in Karnataka.
Chandrababu Naidu, has been vocal against the Modi government, ever since his TDP pulled out of the NDA over the Andhra special status issue. "This is a victory of democracy. As a chief minister and as someone who believes in democracy, I am welcoming this. Everyone in the country will be happy about this development," Naidu said reacting to the latest developments in Karnataka.
On Saturday, Governor Vajubhai Vala invited Kumaraswamy, the leader of Congress-JD(S) joint legislature party, to form the government.
Talking to reporters after meeting Vala, Kumaraswamy said the Governor has directed him to prove the majority on the floor of the House in 15 days but he would do it much before.
The JD(S) leader had earlier said the swearing-in ceremony would take place tentatively between 12 and 1.50 pm at Kanteerava stadium on May 21. However, he later in the evening said the swearing-in would be held on May 23 as May 21 happens to be the death anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and therefore it would not be appropriate to hold the ceremony on that date. Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, in 1991.
After a meeting with Congress leaders, Kumaraswamy said they also discussed about moving the confidence of motion on May 24.
Kumaraswamy's meeting with the Governor came hours after B.S. Yeddyurappa stepped down as chief minister without facing the floor test in the assembly as the BJP fell short of numbers.
The post-election stitched alliance of JD(S) and Congress, which claims the support of 117 members, has already staked its claim to form the government and said it would be headed by Kumaraswamy.
The third son of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda had earlier headed the BJP-JD(S) coalition government for twenty months from January 2006.
Out of the 222 seats to which elections were held, BJP bagged 104 seats to emerge as the single largest party. Congress was reduced to 78 seats while the JD(S) won 37 constituencies.
With inputs from PTI