New Delhi: HD Kumaraswamy, the legislative party leader of Janta Dal – Secular and the joint CM candidate of both Congress and JD(s) will be taking oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on Wednesday (May 23).

His oath-taking ceremony was earlier scheduled on May 21, i.e. Monday, which later got postponed to Wednesday.

The reason behind this deferral is former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary.

The Congress MLAs will be a part of the death anniversary and will be offering their homage to the former

Kumaraswamy said: “Swearing day will be Wednesday because on Monday it is Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary and that is not the proper date because entire country’s Congress workers will be a part of the death anniversary function and it is not good to hold the oath taking ceremony at that time. For this reason we have shifted the date."

Invitation for the swearing in will be extended to the leaders of the opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati, Mamta Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav.

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R Vala on Saturday invited Kumaraswamy to form the next government in the state, following the resignation of BJP's B.S. Yeddyurappa ahead of his trust vote.

"The Governor has invited me to form the next government as the leader of the JD-S legislative party with the support of the Congress, which is our alliance partner," Kumaraswamy told reporters after meeting Vala at Raj Bhavan and staked claim to power after the three-day BJP government fell.