The sky over Vidhana Soudha may have been overcast on Wednesday afternoon, but on the ground there was much bonhomie and camaraderie as the swearing in of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka virtually turned into a show of strength by leaders of parties out to counter the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre in the 2019 Parliamentary elections.
Besides Congress top brass like Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Mr Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka in-charge Mr K.C. Venugopal, the who’s who of the anti-BJP brigade from various states were present during the swearing-in ceremony of state JD(S) chief, H.D. Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister of Karnataka and KPCC chief, Dr G. Parameshwar as deputy Chief Minister.
The swearing-in ceremony offered the first glimpse of an anti-BJP front taking shape. Arch political rivals, old adversaries created history of sorts with Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee, Sitaram Yechury, Chandrababu Naidu, Sonia Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal coming together and sharing the dais. “Jo hamse takrayega, chur chur ho jayega (Whoever dares to fight with us will be decimated),” said the tough-talking Mamata Banerjee with TD chief Chandrababu Naidu by her side.
Prasanta Patnaik