Congress leaders Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath, and Bhupesh Bhagel were sworn in as chief ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on Monday amid a show of the Opposition unity.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin was among the Opposition leaders, who attended the inauguration ceremonies a day after backing Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate ahead of the national elections due next year.
Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Deve Gowda, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, his Karnataka counterpart HD Kumaraswamy and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were among the other opposition leaders who attended the ceremonies.
So did Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Hemant Soren, along with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi.
The leaders of Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party (SP) — Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav — stayed away from the ceremonies. Yadav later tweeted his support for the Congress governments. “Newly elected Samajwadi Party MLA from Bijawar [Madhya Pradesh] Rajesh Kumar will represent the party in SP’s support and good wishes to Kamal Nath,” Yadav tweeted.
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{{/usCountry}}The outgoing Bharatiya Janata Party chief ministers – Shivraj Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) – too attended the inauguration ceremonies while Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted congratulatory messages.
In Rajasthan, governor Kalyan Singh administered the oath of office to Gehlot, 67, along with his deputy, and Sachin Pilot, 41. Gehlot took over as the chief minister for the third time. Pilot is Rajasthan’s youngest deputy chief minister.
A Congress leader said Gehlot has held discussions over cabinet formation with Pilot and Congress general secretary Avinash Pande before Gandhi would approve it. “… in the coming two to three days, the cabinet will be formed in Rajasthan,” he said on condition of anonymity. He added that the cabinet will have a mix of experience and youth.
In Madhya Pradesh, governor Anandiben Patel swore in nine-time Lok Sabha member Kamal Nath, 72, as the chief minister at a function in Bhopal. Chouhan got the loud cheer from the crowd at the function when he raised his hands along with Nath and in Lok Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia on the dais.
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A party leader said the cabinet ministers in the state would be inducted on December 21 after deliberations with the party high command.
A Congress leader said the cabinet formations were being delayed apparently as per the instructions from the high command to avoid any controversy. “In Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, too, no cabinet was constituted… There will be efforts to strike a balance among various factions of the party and it [the cabinet formations] will take some time.”
In Chhattisgarh, the venue for the inauguration of Bhagel, 57, was shifted from Science College grounds to Balbeer Juneja Indoor Stadium because of heavy rains. Anandiben Patel, who holds the additional charge of the Chhattisgarh governor, swore in Bhagel along with T S Singhdeo and Tamradhwaj Sahu as cabinet ministers.