New Delhi: Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president, Chandrababu Naidu is likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister of Karnataka. Naidu on Sunday discussed this in a teleconference with the TDP ministers, ANI reported.
The ministers unanimously suggested that he should attend JD(S) leader's oath ceremony as he personally invited him. Ministers also advised Naidu that this event will help him to keep a cordial relation with Kumaraswamy's father and former PM HD Deve Gowda. Attending the swearing-in ceremony can send a right signal to the nation, said the ministers, the news agency further said.
The three-day-old BJP government in Karnataka had collapsed on Saturday, minutes before the scheduled trust vote, with CM BS Yeddyurappa resigning with defeat staring him in the face. It was his shortest stint in power. Yeddyurappa became the CM for the first time for seven days in 2007. He became the CM for the second time when the BJP formed its first government in Karnataka in 2008. Yeddyurappa was at the helm of the state for over three years before he was made to quit following indictment by the Lokayukta in an alleged mining scam.
Hours later, Kumaraswamy, the chief ministerial candidate of the newly formed JD(S)-Congress-BSP alliance, met Governor Vajubhai Vala and had said that he had been invited to form the government. However, Kumaraswamy later in the evening had said that the swearing-in would be held on May 23 as May 21 happens to be the death anniversary of former PM 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.
The 58-year-old leader, son of JD(S) supremo and former PM HD Deve Gowda, had added that the Governor had given him 15 days to prove his majority, but had asserted "we don't need 15 days", as per PTI. The newly-formed alliance has claimed support of 117 MLAs in the 224-member House with an effective strength of 221.
The BJP emerged as the single-largest party (104 seats) in Karnataka when results were declared on May 15, but fell short of a majority. The Congress, which finished second with 78 seats, moved swiftly and stitched an alliance with 38-member JD(S)+ and backed its leader Kumaraswamy for chief ministership.
(With Agency inputs)
