Mamata congratulates H D Kumaraswamy, may attend swearing-in this week

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated H D Kumaraswamy over the phone on Saturday and later tweeted that the incumbent chief minister of Karnataka had invited her to the oath-taking ceremony.
The state secretariat is making arrangements for Banerjee’s visit if she decides to attend the ceremony.

The Bengal CM was among the first to congratulate the Congress-JD(S) alliance after B S Yeddyurappa put in his papers on Saturday. Banerjee tweeted: “Democracy wins. Congratulations Karnataka. Congratulations DeveGowdaji, Kumaraswamiji, Congress and others. Victory of ‘regional’ front’.”

Banerjee has been pitching for a ‘regional front’ for long, advocating a one-on-one contest with BJP nationally. She has repeatedly asked to give the regional parties room so that they can take on BJP where they are strong.

Before the Karnataka elections, Banerjee had asked JD(S) to go for a pre-poll alliance with Congress.

After the results, with no party managing an absolute majority, she tweeted that an alliance between Congress and JD(S) would have made the alliance’s task of forming government easier.