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Nitish Kumar’s swearing-in ceremony in Patna on November 20 will be an occasion to showcase the prospective expansion of the Grand Alliance by showcasing its future constituents from other provinces.
Speaking to Business Line, Janata Dal (United) MP K. C. Tyagi said all the “non-BJP” parties and their leaders will be invited for the event scheduled for November 20. Accordingly, invites have been sent to Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav besides the entire Congress leadership, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and all the Congress chief ministers.
Both Mamata and Kejriwal had publicly endorsed Nitish Kumar’s candidature and supported the Grand Alliance during the Bihar campaign. Their participation is expected to be certain with Mamata having already given her consent. K. C. Tyagi was hand delivering the invite to Kejriwal on Monday.
Significantly, the BJP and its alliance partners, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Shiv Sena who were among the first to congratulate Nitish Kumar for his victory and attack the BJP for the “shrill campaign” it mounted, have not been invited for the swearing-in ceremony.
“The BJP and its allies are not being called. This is an event for the celebration of Grand Alliance’s victory,” said Tyagi.
The JD(U) and Nitish Kumar are believed to have been keen on extending an invite to the Akali Dal, the Sena and the TDP and TRS in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. But the Congress’s sensibilities have been kept in mind to keep them out. The Congress will be engaged in a direct contest with the Akali Dal-BJP combine in Punjab where elections are scheduled in 2017.
Although the BJP will be kept out, the Prime Minister and senior members of his Cabinet – the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is a personal friend of the Chief Minister, the Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj – are likely to get an invite for the function. This is because as Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar is not likely to forget basic courtesies and protocol which he observed even at the height of a polarised campaign.
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