Running coalition govt a ‘big challenge’, says Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru, May 22

Karnataka Chief Minister-designate HD Kumaraswamy acknowledged on Tuesday that running the Congress-JD(S) coalition government over the next five years will be a “big challenge” for him.

“This is a big challenge in my life. I’m not expecting that I will be able to fulfil my responsibilities as chief minister easily,” Kumaraswamy, who will be sworn in as chief minister tomorrow, said.

Kumaraswamy, who was in Sringeri, the place where Adi Shankaracharya, exponent of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy, established his first matha, said he believed that things would go smoothly with the grace of Goddess Shardambe and the Jagadguru.

“People also have doubts, not only me, people in the state also have doubt whether this government will function smoothly. But I have belief that with the grace of Sharadambe and Sringeri jagadguru (Shankaracharya) everything will go smoothly,” he told reporters.

Continuing with his temple visit, Kumaraswamy today visited Sringeri Sharada temple and Dakshinamnaya Peetham established up by Adi Shankaracharya.

He also paid obeisance at the famous Manjunathaswamy temple at Dharmasthala.

The official invitation for the oath-taking ceremony, meanwhile, indicated that besides Kumaraswamy some others would be sworn in tomorrow. It said apart from the chief minister, the oath was to be administered to the council of ministers.

Earlier reports had said only Kumaraswamy will take oath tomorrow, while the rest after the floor test on Thursday.

After the fall of the three-day-old BJP government on May19, Governor Vajubhai Vala had invited Kumaraswamy, the leader of the Congress-JD(S) alliance, to form the government.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, BSP supremo Mayawati, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao and several other regional leaders are likely to attend the ceremony. — PTI