Karnataka coalition plunges into crisis

The ruling JD (S)-BJP coalition in Karnataka has plunged in a crisis in the wake of a BJP Minister accusing Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of conspiring to kill him.

With the serious charge against the Chief Minister coming less than a week before the scheduled transfer of power from the JD (S) to the BJP on October 3, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda abruptly called off his meeting with BJP’s national leaders in New Delhi and returned to Bangalore yesterday.

Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference in the party office in Bangalore, Gowda announced the suspension of talks between JD (S) and BJP for the transfer of power.

“The atmosphere is not congenial for holding talks on the transfer of power now”, Gowda said after coming down heavily on Tourism Minister B Sriramulu for filing a police complaint against the Chief Minister for conspiring to kill him.

Gowda expressed his disappointment with the BJP leadership in Karnataka for standing by the Tourism Minister. “Despite knowing that their party’s Minister was making wild allegations against the Chief Minister, they have written a letter to the Election Commission seeking the transfer of the Superintendent of Bellary for misbehaving with Sriramulu when he went to lodge a police complaint”, Gowda said.

When asked whether transfer of power to BJP will take place as scheduled on October 3, Gowda refused to give a direct answer and said the matter was before the BJP. “The ball is in their court now”, he said.

Gowda was upset with the party’s national leadership for remaining a mute spectator to the continued harassment of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who is also his son. He recalled the corruption charges filed against the Chief Minister by BJP MLC Janardhan Reddy, who alleged that Kumaraswamy had been paid a bribe of Rs 1.5 billion for illegal mining in Bellary district.

Gowda admitted that he had been New Delhi on Wednesday to meet BJP’s national President Rajnath Singh, but returned after the recent developments. “I was upset. In such a situation, I felt there is no meaning in meeting Rajnath Singh or any other leader to discuss the transfer of power”, Gowda said.

Meanwhile, BJP leadership remains confident that Kumaraswamy will hand over the baton to Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa as scheduled.

BJP’s state President Sadanand Gowda told reporters that there was no need to link the controversy arising out of Sriramulu’s allegation to transfer of power.

Nevertheless, the BJP has convened a meeting of its MLAs in Bangalore on Monday and called upon the JD (S) leadership to convene a meeting of the co-ordination committee to sort out the dispute over Sriramulu’s allegations.