Agencies
Bangalore, Jan 23: JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda on Monday virtually justified the action of his son H D Kumaraswamy who has brought the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka to the brink of collapse.
After a meeting with Kumaraswamy, the former prime minister said his son’s action was to save the party.
"I believe what my son has done is to save the party. It is 100 per cent to save the party. Otherwise, they (Congress) would have split my party."
Gowda accused the Congress leaders of humiliating his party men, saying: "I have suffered humiliation in the last 18 months."
Kumaraswamy had told him that he would discuss with MLAs currently staying at Goa before taking any decision, he said.
Gowda said he had not received any formal invitation from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and he would meet her whenever he got the offer.
"I will tell everything to all and take a decision later," Gowda said.
Earlier report - Blowing Hot, Blowing Cold:
No Meeting with Deve Gowda, says Kumaraswamy
Agencies
Bangalore: Rebel JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Monday ruled out any meeting with his father, former prime minister and party supremo H D Deve Gowda, to defuse the crisis dogging the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka.
Kumaraswamy said over telephone that he was currently in Hyderabad and would soon leave for Goa to join his party legislators camping there.
Denying that he was heading towards the city to hold parleys with his father, who has been mounting pressure on him to retract his decision to form a government with BJP support, he said "my MLAs will not allow me to go back".
He said they would return to Bangalore on January 27, a day ahead of Chief Minister N Dharam Singh’s vote of confidence in the Assembly.
A defiant Kumaraswamy, who has been reluctant to meet Gowda for parleys ever since he brought about the coup to dislodge the 20-month-old Congress led coalition government, said JD(S) legislators would leave for Gokarna and Kollur Mookambika temple in Udupi district tonight.
On January 25, the legislators would perform pooja at Durgaparameshwari temple in Kateel, also in Udupi district, and later at Dharamstala, before heading towards Bangalore, he said.
Gowda has been making moves for a one-to-one meeting with his son to persuade him not to go head with his plans to form a government with BJP support, but has not succeeded.
Kumaraswamy has already stated that he would not meet his father now, but later, and convince him on the compulsions that forced him to withdraw support to Singh government and join hands with BJP.
JDS spokesman Y S V Datta had earlier said that the stage was set for a meeting between Gowda and Kumaraswamy at an undisclosed location in the city on Monday.
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