Daijiworld Media Network-Bengaluru (RJP)
Bengaluru, Sep 7: It is less than a week since former Prime Minister and JD(S) Supremo H D Deve Gowda announced that his party had decided to join hands with Congress for the mayoral election to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
“Our party leaders including legislators have decided to join hands with Congress for the mayoral election," Deve Gowda had told reporters on September 1. But the much publicized alliance which was supposed to take place by now is yet to materialize. Going by the present confusions surrounding the alliance, nobody can really predict as to when will the pact take place and will it ever take place.
When one sees the present developments, it seems that the main impediment for the alliance is former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, the son of Deve Gowda. Sources say that Kumaraswamy has been unhappy from day one, as he was not consulted properly on the issue. When the corporators were taken to a resort in Kerala, he was told very late about it, say sources.
Deve Gowda’s recent statement that there are no conditions for the alliance has reportedly irked Kumaraswamy. He has said “Where are those two conditions mentioned earlier? If the alliance is without conditions, what is there to negotiate now? Why the Congress chief Dr Parameshwar should talk to me?” And accordingly he has postponed his meetings with Dr Parameshwar for the past five days citing various reasons. The reason given on Sunday was that Kumaraswamy was suffering from fever.
Kumaraswamy is also unhappy with the statement of chief minister Siddaramaiah that the negotiations were done in legislators’ level. Kumaraswamy says “If those negotiations were done on legislators’ level, let the alliance also take place on the same level. Why to involve me now? Why should I talk to anybody about it? If the chief minister now says so, then later also he can run away from responsibility and blame the legislators. If anything wrong goes in the alliance, JD(S) will suffer more than the Congress.”
“I was always against the alliance. We are fighting BJP and Congress both in the state. I only did not talk because the legislators started the negotiations and made an announcement through the national president Deve Gowda.” Kumaraswamy said in Bengaluru on Sunday reacting to the alliance drama.