KCR To Wish Kumaraswamy On Tuesday Itself To Avoid Gandhis

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is leaving for Benguluru in the evening today and returning the same night after conveying his good wishes to Karnataka's Chief Minister-designate H D Kumaraswamy whose coronation is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday).

The swearing-in ceremony of Kumaraswamy is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at 4:30 pm. Kumaraswamy went to New Delhi on Monday and personally thanked and invited both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony, and both are expected to attend. Even Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi and Chandrababu Naidu of AP, and top leaders Mayawati of the BSP, M K Stalin of the DMK and Akilesh Yadav of the SP are expected to be present at the oath-taking ceremony.

KCR's decision to avoid the main event then appears to indicate that he is averse to running into Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, given his anti-Congress stance. It is well-known that KCR has been vociferously propounding the imperative need for forming a federal front against both the BJP and the Congress, and had personally met JD(S) chief H D Kumaraswamy and his father former PM H D Deve Gowda in this regard. It is quite possible that he is shocked and a bit sore at the JD(S) joining hands with the Congress after that.

KCR would however clearly not like to hurt the sentiments of the JD(S) leadership despite that by abstaining from the swearing-in ceremony due to their chumming with the Congress given that he needs still their support for his front, but he would certainly not feel comfortable with mingling with the Gandhis given his campaigning for an anti-Congress combine. Hence he appears to have decided to call on Kumaraswamy on Tuesday evening itself to convey his good wishes and return in the night.