Daijiworld Media Network- Bengaluru (RJP)

Bengaluru, Aug 31: When Congress leaders were confident of striking a deal with the JD(S) to take over the reins of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), H D Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy from JD(S) are playing a different type of politics. The duo is said to be keeping ‘all options open.’

JD (S) MLC T A Saravana, close aide of Gowda, informed chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday that the party will only take a final decision on the alliance on September 5 when a meeting of its MLAs, MLCs and corporators-elect is held in Bengaluru. The meeting which was scheduled to take place on September 3 has just been postponed due to unknown reasons.

The JD(S) with 14 seats has emerged kingmaker as it its support is crucial for both Congress and the BJP to come to power in BBMP.

HD Kumaraswamy who was ‘resting’ in a resort in Chikkamagaluru has returned to city to play his part in the mega drama. He has said that “We will keep a safe distance from both the parties.”

Some sources said that Kumaraswamy has directed his corporators to come back to city immediately. JD(S) has kept its corporators in a five-star hotel in Kochi, Kerala, to prevent poaching. Seven independent winning candidates are said to be lodged in a resort in Alappuzha, Kerala.

While the top leadership of the Congress and the JD(S) is to come to a conclusion on the alliance, the second-rung leaders have already come to an understanding on sharing power, it is believed.

Sources also said though the alliance is almost imminent, Kumaraswamy and his father want a better bargain as the BJP is also desperately seeking its support. The JD(S) wants the chief minister himself to request for alliance.

Once the Congress party high command agrees for all the demands of JD(S), the drama should see ‘the end’. The exact ‘distance’ JD(S) wants to keep from the Congress and BJP will be known by this weekend.