In the clearest sign that the fragile JD(S)-Congress alliance in Karnataka is about to get severed, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has said that mid-term polls are imminent in the state. However, later he clarified that he meant it for local body elections and not for Assembly polls.
Significantly diluting his earlier assertion, Deve Gowda told ANI, "As HD Kumaraswamy had mentioned, the govt will continue for next 4 years. There is an understanding signed between JDS and Congress".
However, earlier he had said that, "we were promised support for five years but everyone can see the behaviour now, alluding to comments made by Congress leaders''. Congress tied up with JD(S) after the Karnataka election in 2018 to keep the single largest party BJP out of power. JD(S) which got the least number of seats among the three major parties in Karnataka got the CM post. However, there has been constant friction between HD Kumaraswamy, CM of Karnataka and Siddaramaiah, ex-CM of Karnataka.
Congress-JD(S) alliance came a cropper in the Lok Sabha elections, with them winning only two out of the 28 seats. Even Deve Gowda lost from Tumkur. Their has been constant murmur regarding political survival of the government after the Lok Sabha elections.
Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda Thursday said he told Congress president Rahul Gandhi that he has been hurt by the repeated public utterances of some leaders of the grand old party and his JD(S) about the coalition government in Karnataka.
"At least here, afterwards (induction of independents in the state cabinet), there should not be any public reaction by my party or Congress," the JD(S) supremo told reporters here.Two Independent MLAs were recently inducted into the Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy-led cabinet with an apparent goal to strengthen the 13-month-old coalition.
Gowda said he told Gandhi, "From day one I am watching, I'm hurt very badly. This is the first time I am telling you. You take a decision. Please request all your Karnataka leaders (to not speak in public about the government)." Asked about senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah's reported remarks after meeting Gandhi on Wednesday that the coalition is not working well and the party would have performed better if it had contested the elections alone, Gowda said, "I don't want to react now; there is ample time." On some leaders expressing the view that the alliance was hurting both the parties, the JD(S) chief said the coalition was not his party's idea but of Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
With agency inputs
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Deve Gowda")
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}