Bengaluru/IBNS: The Congress is all set to turn the swearing-in ceremony of chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and his deputy-designate DK Shivakumar into a show of opposition unity just as the previous Congress-JDS government did ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In 2018, after cobbling up the HD Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JDS coalition government, a similar show of strength was staged by the Opposition parties.

The ceremony was attended by CPI-M leaders Sitaram Yechury and Pinarayi Vijayan, who shared the stage with their arch-rival Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool), Mayawati (BSP), and Akhilesh Yadav (SP).

The array of leaders who stood with Kumaraswamy included Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, NCP's Sharad Pawar, Sharad Yadav, RLD's Ajit Jogi, CPI's D Raja, RJD's Tejaswi Yadav, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and IUML MP PK Kunhalikutty.

The Congress, which won the Karnataka assembly election with a thumping majority, has sent out invitations to all like-minded parties for the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar as chief minister and deputy chief minister, respectively.

Former AICC President Sonia Gandhi is likely to attend the event along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra.

Invitations have been sent to Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.

The grand old party also has invited Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, and NC chief Farooq Abdullah.

Most of the invitees are expected to attend the ceremony. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled at Kanteerava Stadium at 12.30 pm on May 20.

Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing at Kanteerava Stadium where around 50,000 people are expected to take part in the event.

[With UNI inputs]