Karnataka swearing-in ceremony: From Nitish Kumar to Sharad Pawar, list of leaders who attended the ceremony

Congress leader Siddaramaiah marked his return to the position of CM after five years as he took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on Saturday. D K Shivakumar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state in the ceremony. The oath-taking ceremony was joined by many leaders of the opposition including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, etc.

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Union of opposition leaders in the oath-taking ceremony of Siddaramaiah ahead of Lok Sabha election 2024, is more of a show of power of the opposition who is trying hard to stand united against the BJP. The ceremony was joined by the top leaders of the grand old party, Congress. Gandhi's family members, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge were present on the occasion.

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Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states also attended the ceremony, like Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel attended the event.

Opposition leaders who attended the Karnataka CM swearing-in ceremony

Several opposition leaders were invited to the oath taking ceremony of Siddaramaiah. However, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's name was missing from the list. Whereas, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was unable to attend the function due to a prior commitment. On behalf of Mamata Banerjee, TMC Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar was designated by the party for the program.

Following opposition leader attended the swearing-in ceremony:

-Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin

-Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

-Deputy Tejashwi Yadav

-Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah

-NCP leader Sharad Pawar

-Actor turned politician and Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan

In the ceremony, several other leaders of JMM, RJD, Shiv Sena, SP, PDP, CPI(M), CPI, MDMK, RSP, CPI(ML), VCK, RLD, Kerala Congress and IUML have also invited the ceremony, reported PTI.

The swearing-in ceremony of the new Karnataka CM can be seen as a launchpad for opposition unity and a show of strength and solidarity. However, the absence of the AAP party even from the guest list gives some faint hints of the opposition's face in 2024.