Kharge lone Oppn leader to attend Modi's oath taking

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as the prime minister on Sunday evening, sources close to him said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was probably the lone opposition leader, who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as the prime minister on Sunday evening.

Though an invite was sent to some other opposition leaders too, Kharge was among those who attended the prime minister's oath-taking ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Modi took oath as the prime minister for the third time in a row on Sunday evening. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to him at a function attended by several dignitaries, including some heads of state of neighbouring countries.

None of the opposition leaders attended the oath-taking of Modi and his cabinet and Kharge represented the INDIA bloc there.

TMC leader Sagarika Ghosh posted her invitation letter on X earlier and said that she would not be attending the ceremony.

"Respected @rashtrapatibhvn. Thank you for your kind invitation. I regret that since we in the Opposition do not accept the moral legitimacy of the swearing in of Shri @narendramodi who has lost the mandate of the people, I have made a personal decision not to attend," she wrote on X.

Another TMC leader said, "Our leader (Mamata Banerjee) has already announced, we are not attending the swearing in."