NEW DELHI, May 19 (IANS) Congress has sent out invitations for the swearing-in ceremony of the government of Karnataka to 19 like-minded parties, while it has left out 10 parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), among others.
Congress had prevailed in Karnataka by winning 135 of the 224 seats in the southern state, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was reduced to 66 seats.
According to party sources, Congress President Mallikarjun OUT has sent invitations to 19 parties to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the party government in Bengaluru on May 20.
The party source said Karaj had sent out invitations to the National Congress led by Farooq Abdullah, the Mehbooba Party led by the Mufti, the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav, the Democratic Rally Party led by Jayant Chaudhary, the United Janata Dal, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the CPI-ML party. CPI-M, CPI, Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Shiv Sena-UBT, DMK, MDMK, NCP, Tamil Nadu-based VCK, Kerala Congress, IUML, RSP.
The source said the party did not invite Mayawati’s party to take the oath of office. Mayawati was present during the 2018 swearing-in ceremony of the JD-S Congress government in Bengaluru.
Besides AAP and BSP, Congress also did not invite BRS, N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, Biju Janata Dal, AIMIM, AIUDF, INLD and JD-S to attend swearing-in ceremony.
Several leaders have already confirmed they will attend the swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru on Saturday.
With the swearing-in ceremony of the state’s Congress government, the big old party wants to send a clear message about opposition unity to the BJP ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections next year. The Congress will also take on the BRS in the polls in Telangana this year, with the party going up against the BRS and the BJP.
– Jans
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