Daiiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Feb 9: In a sudden and surprising development, it has come to light, that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had held secret parleys with the former chief minister and JD(S) state president Kumaraswamy in Delhi last week, giving rise to the possibility of reaching an electoral understanding between the two parties at least in Karnataka where the JD(S) has a formidable presence.

Top secrecy had been maintained over the meeting and it came to light only on Sunday night, taking even the state BJP by surprise.  However, nothing has been revealed about the issues they discussed. The timing of the discussion assumes significance, as the notification for the Loksabha election is expected to be issued shortly.  It may be recalled, that Sonia Gandhi had summoned party leader Siddaramaiah, a sworn detractor of Gowda family, to Delhi and promised to elevate him to a suitable organizational post.

Sources say, that Kumaraswamy received phone call from Delhi on February 1 and he went there the next day. The discussions were held on one-to-one basis at the residence of Sonia on the same evening and no other leaders were present at the discussions, it is gathered.  Sources close to the former chief minister claim, that the discussions hovered around current political scenario in the state, BJP's strengths, strategy needed to be followed to regulate BJP's progress in the state and the likely repercussions the elevation of status of Siddaramaiah in the party will have on the prospects of striking electoral understanding between the two parties etc., Kumaraswamy reportedly expressed himself in favour of entering into an alliance with the Congress. Both also are nursing a hope for engineering sweeping changes in the political scene in the state after the Loksabha election.

In the meantime, Siddaramaiah camp has developed cold feet over the development. Siddaramaiah reportedly feels that the promise given by the party president to him was not fulfilled as a result of secret understanding reached between the above two leaders. For him, an electoral alliance, if reached, will be a development that will be hard to digest. He may decide on a political move to stymie the political benefits the JD(S) might reap out of the proposed understanding, and is busy consulting his close aides on this issue.