Mamata Will Not Attend Siddaramaiah Swearing In; Will Send TMC Rep

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee has decided to skip the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday.

TMC Lok Sabha MP Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar will attend the event will attend the ceremony on her behalf, informed TMC’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien on Friday.

This decision of Mamata hints that she is continuing to keep distance from the Congress despite the latter’s thumping win in the Karnataka assembly elections.

After the Karnataka results were out, Mamata Banerjee congratulated the Karnataka people for the verdict, but did not utter a word on the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. Later, she said that she is ready to give conditional support to Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls provided the latter reciprocates the same to Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

“Wherever the Congress is strong, let them fight. We will give them support; there is nothing wrong (in that). But they also have to support other political parties,” she said recently.

Banerjee had received an invitation from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to participate in the event on May 20 in Bengaluru.