Mamata, Chandrababu Naidu express willingness to work with Kumaraswamy

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expressed their willingness to work together with HD Kumaraswamy, who will take oath as the chief minister of Karnataka later today.

"We've come here to witness the swearing-in of HD Kumaraswamy and express our solidarity to him. In the future, we'll work together to protect and promote national interest. We're here to strengthen all regional parties," they told reporters here.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav also arrived in Bengaluru to take part in the oath-taking ceremony of Kumaraswamy.

Among the confirmed attendees at the swearing-in are United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan, Samajwadi Party chief, Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and son of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, Tejaswi Yadav will also be present to witness Kumaraswamy's swearing-in.

Other notable guests include the founder of Rashtriya Lok Dal, Ajit Singh (also an ex-Union Minister), actor-turned-politician and founder of Makkal Needhi Maiam, Kamal Haasan.

(ANI)