Bengaluru: With CM-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy (HDK) of the JD(S) all set take oath on the steps of Vidhana Soudha this evening, the event will see a host of third front leaders attending the ceremony, besides AICC President Rahul Gandhi and Congress Supremo Sonia Gandhi.

The attendance of a large number of third front leaders is seen as a prelude to the Opposition’s preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

BSP Supremo Mayawati, former UPCM and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, Delhi CM and AAP Founder Arvind Kejriwal, RTD leader Tejaswi Yadav, son of jailed former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, JD(S) rebel leader Sharad Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar, Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu, DMK leader M.K. Stalin, West Bengal CM and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee, Communist Party leaders such as Sitaram Yechury and D. Raja and many more leaders from different States have been invited for HDK’s swearing-in ceremony.

KCR congratulates HDK

Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao  (KCR) of the TRS, a master strategist that he is, chose to personally congratulate CM-designate HDK yesterday, a day before the swearing-in ceremony. Rao returned to Hyderbad last night itself.

Rao’s action is seen as a strategic move to avoid sharing dais with top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, which would have otherwise sent wrong political signals in his home State of Telangana.