‘High Command’ Deve Gowda Asks Party to Prepare For Polls
Times of India
Bangalore, Sep 9: Chaos prevailed in Karnataka’s political circles on Saturday with the JD(S) firing two missiles at the BJP, its coalition partner. While state JD(S) president Merajuddin Patel thundered that the power-sharing agreement finalised 19 months ago is not valid anymore, party supremo HD Deve Gowda exhorted his legislators to get ready for assembly elections.
These utterances have jolted the BJP, which has been riding high on chief minister H D Kumaraswamy’s promise to transfer power on Oct 3.
Patel told reporters the agreement between Kumaraswamy and deputy CM B S Yediyurappa does not hold good in the current political situation. “Any final decision on power transfer has to be taken by our high command (Deve Gowda). Kumaraswamy has to consult the party on such issues; he cannot be making statements on his own or taking decisions,’’ he said.
At the same time, Patel tried to dangle a carrot before the BJP to ensure continuance of the government without power transfer. “JD(S) workers and a majority of the people want the present leadership structure — Kumaraswamy as CM and Yediyurappa as deputy CM — to continue. Things have to happen as the majority wants them to. Even some BJP ministers are in favour of Kumaraswamy as CM.’’
The BJP chose not to react strongly. While Yediyurappa said he would not speak on the issue till October 3, his fellow party minister K S Eshwarappa hoped Kumaraswamy would keep his word. Gowda, on his part, said the transfer of power will take place only after holding talks with BJP leaders A B Vajpayee and Rajnath Singh. Maintaining that the JD(S) workers had suffered a lot at the hands of BJP leaders in the state, Gowda asked: “How can power transfer happen in such a situation?’’ Turning to his MLAs, he said: “If the discussions with BJP national leaders are not fruitful, get ready for elections.’’
If this was not enough, Congress tried to fish in the troubled waters with former CM N Dharam Singh calling on governor Rameshwar Thakur on Saturday. Though described as a courtesy call, the visit assumes significance as it comes in the backdrop of Kumaraswamy’s meeting with the governor on Friday.
Also read: