Karnataka minister dismisses reports of trouble in JD(S)-Cong alliance

Karnataka Minister and JD(S) leader UT Khader on Wednesday said there is "no problem at all" with the coalition government in the state.

"There is no problem at all. Congress and JDS have joined hands together and there is no confusion about that," Khader said after a meeting with senior Congress leader KC Venugopal.

In response to a question on dissent among Congress MLAs, Khader said, "Some leaders have their individual opinions and all that will be sorted out."

"BJP has been trying to destabilise the government for the past one year. Nothing has happened, they will have to wait for four more years," he added.

On being asked about reports of him being asked to resign from the state cabinet to keep the government intact, Khader said, "There is no such information but if the party asks me then I will abide by that."

The JDS-Congress coalition, which is in power in the state, went through a rough patch during the campaigning of the recently held elections with leaders of both the parties accusing each other. Congress has 79 MLAs while Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) has 37 MLAs in the coalition government holding power in the state.

The tensions between the two parties benefitted the BJP which won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka while both JDS and Congress had to content itself with just one seat each. However, the Karnataka Congress unit had said that there was no threat to the coalition in the state.