Karnataka faces mid-term poll as JD(S) holds out
BJP wants partner to honour power transfer agreement, but to wait till JD(S) panel meet.
By TNN |
BANGALORE/NEW DELHI: The BJP has decided to wait for the outcome of the JD(S)’ political affairs committee meeting, scheduled to be held in New Delhi on October 5, before deciding whether to pull the rug from under Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's feet.
The deadline for Mr Kumaraswamy to hand over the chief minister's baton to his deputy, BS Yediyurappa, in accordance with the power transfer agreement hammered between the two parties 20 months ago, expired on Wednesday, but the former remains in saddle in the state.
The BJP's central leadership, which has convened a meeting of its parliamentary board in the national capital on Thursday to discuss the political situation prevailing in the state, has decided to calibrate its response to put pressure on former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and his son to honour their part of the power-sharing deal.
As the first step, it got its ministers to hand over their resignations to the chief minister on Tuesday night. If the JD(S) refuses to honour its word by Friday, the saffron party, in all likelihood, will withdraw its support to the coalition government and press for early Assembly polls.
"We're prepared for any eventuality," former BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu said. "The spirit of the mandate of 2004 Assembly polls should be adhered to. Even though we emerged as the largest party, we decided to hand over the chief minister's chair to the JD(S) for the first 20 months. We've fulfilled our share of responsibility, and they should now follow suit." In their interactions with the father-son duo, the BJP's interlocutors found Mr Deve Gowda to be the main stumbling block in the power-transfer project. He wanted the saffron leadership to wait till the Lok Sabha polls which, he claimed, were in any case round the corner, before staking claim on the chief minister's chair.
The BJP, it is clear, has refused to take the bait. Its MLAs made it plain to the central observers that they would rather face elections than be given in to the bullying tactics of the father-son duo. The party has also been enthused by the civic election results, which saw it doubling its vote share in urban pockets. It also captured four of the seven municipal corporations — Mangalore, Hubli, Davanagare and Bellary.
The party reckoned that the JD(S)’ refusal to hand over the baton to Mr Yediyurappa will trigger a Lingayat backlash across the state. Mr Yediyurappa, who represents the Shikaripur assembly segment falling in the Shimoga district, belongs to the numerically-strong community. For the time being, the status quo continues. The chief minister, who received the resignation letters from Mr Yediyurappa and all 17 BJP ministers on Tuesday night, is sleeping on it, along with that of tourism minister B Sriramulu.
After the no-holds-barred squabbling among the two coalition partners over the transfer of power from the JD(S) to the BJP during the past few days, with both parties sticking to their positions, the scene of action is slowly shifting to New Delhi. Mr Yediyurappa kept himself busy since Tuesday night, holding consultations with BJP's trouble shooters Yashwant Sinha and Venkaiah Naidu and other state party leaders. The Yediyurappa-Sinha-Naidu trio left for the national capital, along with other key BJP ministers and state leaders, by evening for consultations with party's national president Rajnath Singh ahead of the October 5 political affairs committee meeting of the JD(S).
Meanwhile, Mr Kumaraswamy continued his diatribe against BJP leaders for their unseemly haste and crude attempts to score brownie points through media debate on the power transfer issue. Even the decision of Mr Yediyurappa and other BJP ministers to submit en-masse resignations to him before the JD(S) legislature party meeting was nothing but "political grandstanding", he said and wondered why experienced national leaders did not hold “civilised” discussions with JD(S) supremo Mr Deve Gowda and him well in advance. Perfunctory discussions before the Cabinet meeting or the talks with Mr Gowda a couple of days ahead of the date of power transfer as well as holding out public ultimatums demanding chief minister's resignation cannot be termed as civilised debate, he said.
For the record, however, the chief minister has made it clear that continuing in power is not important to him. "I am committed to quitting as promised. But I have to abide by the feelings of the legislators and party," he said, asserting that he will go by the decision of the JD(S) national political affairs committee meeting in Delhi on October 5.
The deadline for Mr Kumaraswamy to hand over the chief minister's baton to his deputy, BS Yediyurappa, in accordance with the power transfer agreement hammered between the two parties 20 months ago, expired on Wednesday, but the former remains in saddle in the state.
The BJP's central leadership, which has convened a meeting of its parliamentary board in the national capital on Thursday to discuss the political situation prevailing in the state, has decided to calibrate its response to put pressure on former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and his son to honour their part of the power-sharing deal.
As the first step, it got its ministers to hand over their resignations to the chief minister on Tuesday night. If the JD(S) refuses to honour its word by Friday, the saffron party, in all likelihood, will withdraw its support to the coalition government and press for early Assembly polls.
"We're prepared for any eventuality," former BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu said. "The spirit of the mandate of 2004 Assembly polls should be adhered to. Even though we emerged as the largest party, we decided to hand over the chief minister's chair to the JD(S) for the first 20 months. We've fulfilled our share of responsibility, and they should now follow suit." In their interactions with the father-son duo, the BJP's interlocutors found Mr Deve Gowda to be the main stumbling block in the power-transfer project. He wanted the saffron leadership to wait till the Lok Sabha polls which, he claimed, were in any case round the corner, before staking claim on the chief minister's chair.
The BJP, it is clear, has refused to take the bait. Its MLAs made it plain to the central observers that they would rather face elections than be given in to the bullying tactics of the father-son duo. The party has also been enthused by the civic election results, which saw it doubling its vote share in urban pockets. It also captured four of the seven municipal corporations — Mangalore, Hubli, Davanagare and Bellary.
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The party reckoned that the JD(S)’ refusal to hand over the baton to Mr Yediyurappa will trigger a Lingayat backlash across the state. Mr Yediyurappa, who represents the Shikaripur assembly segment falling in the Shimoga district, belongs to the numerically-strong community. For the time being, the status quo continues. The chief minister, who received the resignation letters from Mr Yediyurappa and all 17 BJP ministers on Tuesday night, is sleeping on it, along with that of tourism minister B Sriramulu.
After the no-holds-barred squabbling among the two coalition partners over the transfer of power from the JD(S) to the BJP during the past few days, with both parties sticking to their positions, the scene of action is slowly shifting to New Delhi. Mr Yediyurappa kept himself busy since Tuesday night, holding consultations with BJP's trouble shooters Yashwant Sinha and Venkaiah Naidu and other state party leaders. The Yediyurappa-Sinha-Naidu trio left for the national capital, along with other key BJP ministers and state leaders, by evening for consultations with party's national president Rajnath Singh ahead of the October 5 political affairs committee meeting of the JD(S).
Meanwhile, Mr Kumaraswamy continued his diatribe against BJP leaders for their unseemly haste and crude attempts to score brownie points through media debate on the power transfer issue. Even the decision of Mr Yediyurappa and other BJP ministers to submit en-masse resignations to him before the JD(S) legislature party meeting was nothing but "political grandstanding", he said and wondered why experienced national leaders did not hold “civilised” discussions with JD(S) supremo Mr Deve Gowda and him well in advance. Perfunctory discussions before the Cabinet meeting or the talks with Mr Gowda a couple of days ahead of the date of power transfer as well as holding out public ultimatums demanding chief minister's resignation cannot be termed as civilised debate, he said.
For the record, however, the chief minister has made it clear that continuing in power is not important to him. "I am committed to quitting as promised. But I have to abide by the feelings of the legislators and party," he said, asserting that he will go by the decision of the JD(S) national political affairs committee meeting in Delhi on October 5.
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