The Hindu : Karnataka News : Congress stand hinders coalition efforts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Congress stand hinders coalition efforts

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MAY 24. The protracted efforts of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress to form a coalition seemed to have suffered a setback today with the latter having second thoughts on the nature of the tie-up.

A meeting of the new Congress leaders had adopted a resolution authorising the party High Command to select the leader, the leadership convened another meeting for the night.

Earlier, the two parties appeared to have moved towards formation of a coalition government in the State, though taking rigid stands on the issue of leadership of the government. It will now be back to square one as far as negotiations between the two parties are concerned. The leaders of the two parties will leave for New Delhi tomorrow for further talks by their national leaders. The Janata Dal(S) president, H.D. Deve Gowda, will meet the All India Congress Committee president, Sonia Gandhi, for the third time.

The two parties held meetings of their legislature parties today. The decision taken at the first meeting of the Congress legislators was on expected lines and true to the tradition of the party.

Though the Janata Dal (S) Legislature Party authorised Mr. Deve Gowda to take a suitable decision on the formation of a government, it stuck to its stand that it should get the Chief Ministership. It was also being mentioned that the meeting of the Janata Dal(S) legislators was held today for the second time only to convince the party's State unit president, Siddaramaiah, and his followers that the party should approach the issue of formation of the government in a spirit of accommodation.

A fresh setback to the efforts to form the government seems to have arisen with a section of the Congress demanding that the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, should continue. Till now, the Janata Dal(S) appeared to be agreeable to the Public Works Minister, N. Dharam Singh, heading the coalition. Some of the Janata Dal(S) leaders maintained that they were not agreeable to Mr. Krishna heading the coalition. The city also witnessed a procession by the supporters of the Urban Development Minister, D.K. Shivakumar, to the Congress Bhavan demanding that Mr. Krishna or Mr. Shivakumar himself be elected the leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Matters would have come to a head as some supporters of the Home Minister, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, arrived at the Congress Bhavan demanding that he be elected as the leader. Following the convergence of the two hostile groups, the All India Congress Committee observers — the Union Minister, P.M. Sayeed, and the General Secretary, Vilasrao Deshmukh, changed the venue of their meetings with individual legislators.

Some in the Congress alleged that it was part of strong-arm tactics by the supporters of Mr. Shivakumar to force a decision.

Mr. Krishna's name, which was only doing the rounds till now, overtook that of the other leaders' today following a meeting over breakfast he had convened at his official residence. All the party candidates elected to the new Assembly besides some Ministers and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee leaders attended it. The observers for the election of the leader of the legislature party also attended it. What was noteworthy about the meeting was the presence of some of the Ministers who are aspirants for the Chief Ministership such as Mr. Dharam Singh, Mr. Kharge, R.V. Deshpande and H.K. Patil.

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