The JD(S) on Tuesday rejected the BJP deadline to the Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to step down by this evening to facilitate transfer of power to it.
BANGALORE: Irked over the deadline set by its coalition partner BJP, the JDS today firmly ruled out the resignation of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy by this 'evening', deepening the political crisis in Karnataka.
Dealing another blow to the saffron party, the JDS also sought to distance itself from the power-sharing agreement reached 20 months ago between the two parties.
Under the power sharing pact, Kumaraswamy is supposed to demit office on October 3, making way for BJP's B S Yediyurappa to take over chief ministership.
"The agreement was between me and some BJP leaders. There was no understanding between the two parties," Kumaraswamy told, as the JDS continued to drag its feet on the issue.
"These kinds of decisions are taken with patience. We don't want to take the decision in haste," he said.
JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda said the party's political affairs committee meeting in New Delhi on October five will take the final decision on power transfer, adding "it would be binding on all".
The BJP meanwhile stuck to its deadline that Kumaraswamy should tender his resignation to Governor today and hand over a letter of support.
"October three is the deadline for power transfer. We will not go back on that," the party's state unit president D V Sadananda Gowda said.
Kumaraswamy and state JDS unit President Mirajuddin Patel also sought to draw a parallel in the power-sharing deal between the PDP and Congress and pointed out that the Congress waited for three months for the former to transfer power to it.
Patel said Kumaraswamy would not resign today, adding that the JDS has nothing to do with the power-sharing agreement inked two months ago, as the deal was only between Kumaraswamy and the BJP.
The BJP has convened a meeting of its Legislature party later on Tuesday to discuss the emerging political situation and take a final view on the future course of action.
In another development, the Congress has also called its Legislature party meeting to discuss the political situation in the state.
Kumaraswamy will be meeting JDS MLAs to elicit their views on power transfer to BJP, to which a majority of his partymen are opposed to.
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