H D Kumaraswamy's swearing-in as Karnataka chief minister saw a show of strength by a galaxy of Opposition leaders who are looking to unite in a bid to take on Narendra Modi in 2019.
Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that the Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress alliance has succeeded in "tying" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Ashwamedha horse (victory horse) in Karnataka, insinuating that the Modi-Amit Shah duo's electoral juggernaut has been halted. On Wednesday, Kumaraswamy was sworn in as the 25th chief minister of Karnataka in a ceremony in Bengaluru that brought together anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (anti-BJP) regional and Opposition parties on a single platform ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"I had said after the Uttar Pradesh election results came out that my aim is to tie the Ashwamedha horse of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah (BJP President). Today, both Congress and JD(S), together, have tied their Ashwamedha horse in Karnataka," said Kumaraswamy , adding, "Probably, in the days to come, Amit Shah has to go to Narendra Modi with lifeless Ashwamedha horse, as we have tied their horse."
The swearing-in ceremony, which also saw Congress' G Parameshwara sworn in as Karnataka deputy chief minister, showcased rare scenes of bonhomie between United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, Nationalist Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India Member of Parliament D Raja, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav, and former Union minister Sharad Yadav.
The BJP, for its part, decided to abstain from attending the swearing-in ceremony despite seven of its leaders, including former chief ministers Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar and S M Krishna, Union minister Ananth Kumar, and officiating Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah, being invited. The BJP emerged as the single largest party after the May 12 Assembly elections and had formed a government with B S Yeddyurappa as the chief minister that lasted for all of three days. Yeddyurappa said they were boycotting the event as BJP was observing a "black day" across the state.
