Telangana CM to skip Kumaraswamy's swearing-in

Bengaluru/Hyderabad, May 22 Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday said he would not be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader and Karnataka Chief Minister-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday.

"Due to prior engagements, I will not be attending the swearing-in ceremony. I extend my good wishes and congratulations to the JD-S leaders," Rao told reporters in Bengaluru.

The Telangana Chief Minister, who arrived in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening, met Kumaraswamy and JD-S supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda at the latter's residence in Padmanabhanagar in the city's southwest suburb.

A leader of a regional party like JD-S becoming the Chief Minister indicates the power of regional outfits, said KCR, as Rao is popularly known.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief along with some other party leaders arrived in Bengaluru from Hyderabad in a special aircraft on Tuesday evening.

KCR would be returning to the Telangana capital on Tuesday night itself to attend to his engagements, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office said.

He was among the invitees for the swearing-in to be held on Wednesday at 4.30 p.m.

Kumaraswamy will be sworn in as the Chief Minister by Governor Vajubhai Vala in front of the state secretariat (Vidhana Soudha) in Bengaluru in the presence of several national leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and about a lakh other people.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu are among the other leaders invited by the JD-S state president to take part in the event.

KCR, who had declared his party's support to the JD-S ahead of the May 12 Karnataka Assembly election, had appealed to the Telugu people living in Karnataka to vote for the JD-S.

This is the second time Kumaraswamy, the third son of Deve Gowda, will be the Karnataka Chief Minister, 12 years after the JD-S formed a coalition government with the BJP on February 4, 2006 and he occupied the office for 20 months.