Congress, JDS suffer setbacks ahead of cabinet expansion

Bengaluru: Political crisis deepened in both Congress and the Janata Dal (S) in Karnataka on Tuesday, as the two parties struggled to save their year-old coalition government from crashing under the pressure of their crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

JD(S) state president H Vishwanath quit his post, adding to chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s cup of woes, peeved at being kept out of the JD (S)-Congress coordination committee. In a letter to the party’s national president, HD Deve Gowda, he said the committee had become a puppet in the hands of former CM Siddaramaiah of the Congress.

The government, despite Kumaraswamy’s best efforts, had not been able to perform well, he said.


In the Congress camp, allegations of senior MLAs being sidelined swirled with seven-time legislator R Ramalinga Reddy slamming party leaders for driving the party to the current situation.

Reddy, a former home minister and an old school Congressman, warned his party bosses that if the situation continued like this, it would become difficult for seniors to continue in the party.

He represents Bengaluru’s BTM Layout in the assembly and began his association with the Congress in 1973.

Reddy holds considerable clout among municipal corporators of Bengaluru, and his supporters staged a demonstration in front of the Congress office in the city demanding a berth for him in the ministry.

“They now want to induct two independent MLAs into the ministry though they worked against the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls,” Reddy told ET. “The newcomers are riding on elephants, while senior MLAs are treated like foot soldiers,” he said, adding that there was a gnawing communication gap between the party’s leaders and MLAs.

Reddy did not take names, but it was obvious that he was referring to Siddaramaiah, state party chief Dinesh Gundurao and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal.