Bhopal: Kamal Nath, who steered Congress to power in Madhya Pradesh in the recently held assembly elections, was all set to be sworn-in as the 18th chief minister of the state on Monday.
Even as the sprawling Jumboori ground here, considered auspicious by all political parties in MP, was scheduled to hold the oath-taking ceremony of the new chief minister, the occasion was all set to turn a show of strength by Congress-led Mahagathbandhan with allies of the party expected to present in full strength.
AICC president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a host of senior Congress leaders such as Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge, N S Siddhu and Raj Babbar were scheduled to grace the occasion.
Similarly, bosses of various regional parties such as TDP supremo and AP chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumarswamy and JD (S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and his party colleague Prafulla Patel, DMK chief M K Stalin, NCP leader Farooq Abdullha, JMM leader Hemant Soren and former chief minister of Jharkhand Babulal Marandi were expected to attend the occasion.
Congress sources said West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, BSP chief Mayawati and SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav had been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Mayawati didn’t confirm yet. Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi will be representing the party instead of Mamata, a TMC release said.
“It will be a replay of show of unity among the Mahagathbandhan constituents as witnessed during the oath-taking ceremony of Karnataka chief minister earlier”, Congress sources said.
The Congress president Mr Gandhi was expected to make a major announcement regarding issues pertaining to farmers after the ceremony, sources said.
