JAIPUR: It will be a gala swearing-in ceremony on Monday for Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan’s new chief minister and deputy chief minister, respectively.
Unlike in the past, when the oath-taking used to be a low-key event at the Raj Bhavan, this time it is being held at the historic Albert Hall in the heart of Jaipur.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and several Opposition leaders will be present on the occasion, which is expected to be an Opposition show of strength ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will be among a dozen senior Congress leaders in attendance. The leaders from other parties expected to attend the ceremony include NCP’s Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy, former PM H D Deve Gowda, NC president Farooq Abdullah, Sharad Yadav, DMK’s Stalin and Kanimozhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav.
After the bitter tussle between Gehlot and Pilot for the CM’s chair, unity and bonhomie between the two leaders will be on show at the event.
While checking the preparations for the oath-taking ceremony, Gehlot said, “The meeting of the Mahagathbandhan has already happened and everybody has promised to go forward with us. We want to eliminate the kind of situation the country is facing. The farmers and the youth have been complaining and the promised ‘acche din’ (good times) have remained elusive.”