In a show of solidarity, a phalanx of opposition leaders including Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president MK Stalin, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Congress chief ministers in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister-designate Kamal Nath is scheduled to take oath at 1.30 pm, while Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot will take oath at 10 am.
Chhattisgarh's chief minister-designate Bhupesh Baghel is scheduled to take oath at 5 pm.
"NCP president Sharad Pawar, Loktantrik Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav, DMK chief MK Stalin, Bihar's former deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal among other opposition leaders will attend the oath-taking ceremony in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on December 17," said well-placed sources.
A host of senior Congress leaders including United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, and other leaders will be present on the occasion to lead the 'opposition unity' show, which assumes significance in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections next year.
Giving a massive blow to the Bharatiya Janata Part, the Congress wrested power from the saffron outfit decisively in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, but the contest was neck and neck in Madhya Pradesh assembly polls where the Congress wrested power from the BJP.
According to sources, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy will be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Kamal Nath as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.
Since West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not able to leave the state due to personal reasons, her party MP Nadimul Haque will grace the swearing-in ceremony of Rajasthan chief minister and deputy chief minister in Jaipur on Monday, as the representative of the Trinamool Congress.
Gehlot has written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, inviting him for his swearing-in ceremony, while Kamal Nath telephoned Naidu and extended him invite for his swearing-in ceremony in Bhopal.
"Naidu has accepted their invitations," sources said.
In the recently-concluded assembly elections the results of which were declared on December 11, the Congress got a massive majority in 90-member assembly of Chhattisgarh where the party won 68 seats, and the BJP got just 15 seats and the remaining seats went to others including BSP (2) and Ajit Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh won 5 seats.
In Rajasthan, where the poll was held in 199 seats out of 200, the Congress bagged 99 seats, and the BJP 73.
Madhya Pradesh saw a nail-biting fight, where the Congress managed to bag 114 seats out of a total of 230, while the BJP got 109 seats, the BSP two, the Samajwadi Party one and independents four.
