New Delhi: Amidst the presence of a large number of opposition leaders at the swearing-in ceremony of the Congress government in Karnataka, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday said that opposition unity requires more than just such an approach and called for ideas. Emphasized the need to meet. A common agenda and the abandonment of partisan interests.
In a show of opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Saturday . In a tweet, Sibal, a prominent opposition voice, said, “Siddaramaiah swearing-in ceremony: Is this a sign of opposition unity with a significant number of leaders present? My view: Opposition unity needs more than this kind of optics . What is needed is a meeting of the minds. . . a common agenda, the sacrifice of partisan interests.”
Sibal, who was a Union minister during UPA 1 and 2, quit the Congress in May last year and was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an independent member with the support of the Samajwadi Party. He recently launched ‘Insaaf’, a non-electoral platform aimed at fighting injustice.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, CPI General Secretary D Raja, RJD leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) leaders Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai, TMC’s Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Makkal Nidhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan, IUML’s Abdussamad Samdani, CPI(ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya, Revolutionary Socialist Party NK Premachandran, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi’s Thol. Thirumavalavan, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayanth Singh, Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti and JD(U) chief Lalan Singh, among others, were present at the swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru.
The Congress did not invite Telangana Chief Minister and BRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, Odisha Chief Minister and BJD leader Naveen Patnaik, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP leader YS Jagan Mohan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Also, no invitation was sent to BSP chief Mayawati.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was invited to the function, but he did not attend.