After Jayalalitha, Now HDK Rushes to support UPA
Bangalore, Nov 12 (DC): In what seems to be an attempt to get into the good books of All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi, Janata Dal (S) state president H.D. Kumaraswamy said his party was prepared to support the UPA government at the Centre in the event of a political fallout over the 2G spectrum scam. The former chief minister, according to sources, has been vying for a Cabinet berth at the Centre in return for supporting the UPA.
Minutes after AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa announced that her party would support the UPA if telecommunication minister, A. Raja who is allegedly involved in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy, is dropped, Kumaraswamy issued a statement in New Delhi saying that if need be, the JD(S) would support the UPA. The JD(S) has three Lok Sabha MPs including former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda.
However, when contacted, Kumaraswamy was guarded in his reply. “We have supported the UPA on several occasions. There is nothing new in JD(S) supporting the ruling coalition.” But when his attention was drawn to the fact that the JD(S) had voted against the nuclear bill along with the Left parties in 2008, he said, “that’s true. So, let see how the political situation develops in the near future. Based on the emerging situation, we will take a final decision.”
No Congress leader was prepared to react to Kumaraswamy’s statement. Most of the leaders who spoke to this newspaper on the condition of anonymity, said they were not keen on hazarding a guess on what would happen in New Delhi. They said it was too early to arrive at an inference on the issue and felt it was upto the party central leadership to decide whether to accept the offer of support of the JD(S) or reject it.