After Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav to skip Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah swearing-in ceremony
2 min read . Updated: 20 May 2023, 08:55 AM IST
PremiumKarnataka swearing-in ceremony today: Akhilesh Yadav announced that he will not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka's chief minister-elect Siddaramaiah, shortly after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed her absence from the event.
Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of Samajwadi Party (SP), has announced that he will not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka's chief minister-elect Siddaramaiah, according to a party spokesperson. This decision comes shortly after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also confirmed her absence from the event. Siddaramaiah is set to be sworn in on May 20 (Saturday) as the 24th Chief Minister of Karnataka, following the Congress party's decisive victory in the state's Assembly elections, securing 135 out of 224 seats.
While several Congress allies, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, are expected to attend the ceremony in Bengaluru, Akhilesh Yadav will not be present.
SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhary confirmed that Akhilesh would not be attending the event due to “programmes lined up in Gorakhpur and Ballia".
“Akhilesh ji will not be able to attend the ceremony because of other programmes already lined up. He will be in Gorakhpur tomorrow (Saturday)," he said adding that the party intends to send a letter of thanks to the Congress for the invitation.
Speculation surrounds Yadav's decision to skip the ceremony, particularly in the context of his recent hints about the SP considering fielding candidates in Amethi and Raebareli, two seats traditionally considered strongholds of the Congress party.
Party sources suggest that this move is an attempt to avoid sparking rumours of a potential coalition with the Congress, which was previously an ally of the SP.
According to the official schedule of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav will visit Tanda village in Gorakhpur on Saturday, where he plans to pay his respects to the late Hari Shankar Tiwari, a prominent Brahmin leader and former minister of Uttar Pradesh. Tiwari, who passed away on Tuesday, had a notable political career and was known for winning an election from inside jail in 1985.
Yadav's decision coincides with Mamata Banerjee's announcement that she will also not attend the event, with Trinamool Congress being represented by MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar instead.
The absence of Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee from the Karnataka chief minister's swearing-in ceremony has raised eyebrows and fuelled speculation about the dynamics between the opposition parties.