Sonia, Rahul, Didi & Kejriwal star guests at Nitish show

PATNA: The Mahagathbandhan of JD(U), RJD and Congress is making preparations to turn the Nitish Kumar government's swearing-in ceremony , slated for November 20, into a show of strength of anti-NDA forces from across the country.

Sources in JD(U) said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal have confirmed they will attend.

“Invitations have been sent to all non-NDA chief minis ters, including TN's Jayalalithaa and Odisha's Naveen Patnaik, and leaders of almost all national parties for the ceremony ,“ a newly-elected JD(U) MLA said. “Nitish will be ad ministered oath at Gandhi Maidan, where Jayaprakash Narayan launched his Sampoorn Kranti movement in 1974“. Describing the victory of the Grand Alliance as a revolution against the politics of communalism, a newly elected JD(U) MLA said, “The day (of swearing-in) will send a message to PM Modi to work for development and not indulge in communal and divisive politics.“ State JD(U) spokesman Ajay Alok said all major “anti-NDA parties will unite in coming days“.

He added that the Grand Alliance's victory even after the aggressive campaigning by the PM and his Cabinet colleagues had proved that “our countrymen do not endorse hate politics“. State JD(U) president Bashistha Narain Singh, a close confidant of Nitish, said the entire world had evinced interest in the election that unfolded in Bihar.