The Hindu : Karnataka News : Siddaramaiah, JD(S) Legislature Party leader

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 17, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Siddaramaiah, JD(S) Legislature Party leader

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MAY 16. The president of the State unit of the Janata Dal(Secular) and former Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, was today unanimously elected leader of the legislature party at the first meeting of the new legislators of the party.

He has thus emerged as the party's choice for the post of Chief Minister which has to be decided upon through negotiations with the Congress.

The election of Mr. Siddaramaiah was a mere formality at the meeting resulting in the resolution being adopted at once.

The other contenders for the post — the secretary-general of the party, P.G.R. Sindhia, and the chairman of the parliamentary board of the party, M.P. Prakash — welcomed the move to elect Mr. Siddaramaiah.

Meanwhile, the president of the Janata Dal(S) and former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, announced that the party had decided to form the next government in association with the Congress and not with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was also in touch with his party over the past two days.

If the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, requests Mr. Deve Gowda to cooperate in the formation of a government in the State with a Congressman as Chief Minister, then the Janata Dal(S), it is said, was likely to give its consent to the Public Works Minister in the S.M. Krishna Cabinet, N. Dharam Singh, being appointed the next Chief Minister.

The matter, it was stated, had come up for discussion when the Janata Dal(S) leaders met some of the Congress leaders in New Delhi.

The Janata Dal(S) made it clear that it would agree only for the candidature of Mr. Dharam Singh who has been elected to the Legislative Assembly for the seventh time in a row and also enjoys a good rapport with some of the Janata Dal(S) leaders.

In such an event, Mr. Siddaramaiah would be the Deputy Chief Minister. Mr. Dharam Singh is leaving for New Delhi on Monday to meet the Congress top brass.

The official line of the Janata Dal(S), however, was that it was keen that there should be a government led by it, especially because the people had rejected the Congress in the elections.

Further, the party was also equally firm that a Janata Dal(S) leader should be the Chief Minister and that for all other things, including the sharing of power, the party was open for a discussion with the Congress.

Mr. Deve Gowda, who has been authorised by the party to hold discussions with Ms. Gandhi to enable the formation of a coalition government in the State, said the Janata Dal(S), which had four members in the Lok Sabha, would extend support to the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre. "We have not sought any position in the government and want to extend support to the Congress in the interests of secularism." The Janata Dal(S) MP from Kozhikode and former Union Minister, M.P. Veerendra Kumar, was present at the Janata Dal(S) Legislature Party meeting.

Mr. Deve Gowda said he had called on Ms. Gandhi on Saturday at the latter's invitation and held informal discussions.

He, however, would not spell out whether the brief discussion pertained to the formation of the government in the State.

"The modalities will be worked out in a few days. The AICC president is busy with the formation of a government at the Centre. She is expected to call me after that and we will hold discussions. My primary aim is to place all matters before the newly-elected legislators and thereafter with their authorisation hold formal discussions with the Congress president on the formation of a government in the State," he said.

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