Mamata to skip Karnataka CM's swearing-in ceremony

However, she has designated TMC's deputy leader in Lok Sabha Kakolig Dastidar to attend the ceremony

Amid the Congress's plan to make the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Karnataka CM a show of strength by the Opposition, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has conveyed that she will not be able to attend the event.

However, she has designated TMC's deputy leader in Lok Sabha Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar to attend the ceremony.

The Congress on Thursday had extended invitations to top leaders from the non-BJP bloc for the Saturday event in Bengaluru.

Also Read — Cong planning to make K'taka CM swearing-in ceremony a show of Oppn strength

"The Karnataka Chief Minister-designate Siddaramaiah and his other colleagues called to personally invite Trinamool Congress supremo and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for the swearing-in cermony tomorrow. Mamata conveyed her best wishes and designated Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Trinamool's Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha, to attend the ceremony," Derek O'Brien tweeted.

Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.

This will be the first major event to display Opposition unity after the parties started the reaching out exercise a couple of months earlier.

Opposition parties have seen the Congress victory in Karnataka as a positive sign for the Opposition in general and the Congress in particular.

While Congress is expected to use it to assert its centrality in the Opposition bloc, Banerjee has said that she is willing to support the Congress in states where it is strong if it reciprocates in West Bengal.