Janata Dal (Secular) President HD Deve Gowda has expressed dissatisfation with the alliance government that his party runs with the Congress in Karnataka, and said he was in pain because of problems between the two parties, ANI reported on Thursday.
“I am in pain, today six months have completed since [HD] Kumaraswamy became chief minister,” the former prime minister said on Wednesday. “All kinds of things have happened in these six months, till now I have not opened my mouth but I can’t keep quiet now.”
Deve Gowda said alliances cannot be run by requesting the coalition partner each day to refrain from uttering unparliamentary language. “Is this any way to run a coalition government...?” he asked.
“Things have already reached a final stage,” The News Minute quoted Deve Gowda as saying. “Before the situation goes out of control, the Congress high command must intervene and impress upon their state leaders. I am seething with anger from within and watching the developments carefully.”
Deve Gowda blamed Siddaramaiah for the tension between the coalition partners. “He has been nursing a grudge against us as he thinks I scuttled his chances of becoming chief minister on two occasions,” the former prime minister added. “Once, when I vacated the post after being chosen as the prime minister candidate in 1996 and, secondly, when we formed a coalition government with the Congress in 2004.”
The former prime minister’s remarks came a few days after his son, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, threatened to resign if the Congress did not rein in its legislators.
Kumaraswamy had issued the ultimatum after being asked about Congress MLA and state minister Puttaranga Shetty, who had referred to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as the state’s leader. “If they want to continue with the same thing, I am ready to step down,” the chief minister had said. “They are crossing the line.”
There has been constant speculation and reports of infighting in the coalition since the two parties formed the government after the Asembly elections in May. The Bharatiya Janata Party had emerged the largest single party with 104 of 224 seats but fell short of majority.
On January 28, Karnataka Congress unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao warned party leaders from crossing the “lakshman rekha” of coalition politics after Kumaraswamy’s threat.
Gundu Rao was referring to remarks made by Congress MLA ST Somashekar, who had earlier said there would have been “real development” if Siddaramaiah had another term.
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