The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Confusion in JD(S) `partly cleared'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Confusion in JD(S) `partly cleared'

Special Correspondent

`Siddaramaiah group has no plan to leave party at the moment'

RESOLVING A CRISIS: The Janata Dal (S) President, H.D. Deve Gowda, and the party's State unit President, N. Thippanna (left), at a meeting of party leaders in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The confusion in the Janata Dal (Secular) on the reported move by a section of party members to shift their loyalties was partly cleared at a three-hour meeting of senior leaders at the residence of the party President, H.D. Deve Gowda, here on Wednesday.

Sources in the JD(S) told The Hindu that the doubts among the senior leaders over the reported discussions between the Deputy Chief Minister and JD (S) Legislature Party leader, Siddaramaiah, and some Congress leaders were cleared after the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, H.C. Mahadevappa, said the Siddaramaiah group has no intention of crossing over to any party at present. Dr. Mahadevappa is a confidant of Mr. Siddaramaiah.

Another meeting

At the end of the meeting, a resolution was adopted underlying the need to strengthen the party at all levels. Another high-level meeting of the senior leaders will be held in two or three days in the presence of the Deputy Chief Minister. The date of the meeting and the venue will be decided in consultation with Mr. Siddaramaiah.

It was said several senior leaders demanded an explanation on what prompted the Siddaramaiah group to hold discussions with Congress leaders. As Mr. Siddaramaiah is in New Delhi for official meetings, it was left to Dr. Mahadevappa to explain the details of the discussions. Dr. Mahadevappa was also in New Delhi in the past three days, and this had given room for suspicion that the Siddaramaiah group was planning to join another party.

Among those who attended Wednesday's meeting were the JD(S) State unit President, N. Thippanna; the Working President, H.D. Kumaraswamy; the Secretary General, Mahima Patel; the Ministers P.G.R. Sindhia, M.P. Prakash, D. Manjunath, and D.T. Jayakumar, besides Dr. Mahadevappa; and the former Ministers C.M. Ibrahim and Thippeswamy.

Sources in the JD(S) said clarifications were sought by both groups in their efforts to resolve differences.

Mr. Deve Gowda said he had referred to Mr. Siddaramaiah at a public meeting in Kolar without any ill-will. All that he had said was that the Congress identified the JD(S) as a coalition partner only because the party won 58 seats.

Mr. Thippanna, who is unwell, came to the meeting from a nursing home at Basaveshwaranagar. After the meeting, he returned for treatment.

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