BANGALORE: The extended budget session of the State legislature is commencing here on Thursday at the most inconvenient hour for one of the two partners in the Government, the Janata Dal (Secular).

The affairs of the party have come to the boil, and the very loyalty of none other than its leader of the legislature party, the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, to the organisation has become a hardy staple for public debate. Mr. Siddaramaiah has rebelled against the leadership of the party President, H.D. Deve Gowda, and but for the anti-defection law would have parted company with it by now.

The legislature session has come as an embarrassment for Mr. Siddaramaiah himself. Being the Minister for Finance he has to defend the budget he presented to the Assembly on March 11.

The speculation is that he will wait till the end of the session in the first week of August and decide on his next course of action.

Vote on account

In the last session of the Assembly, Mr. Siddaramaiah had obtained a vote on account for four months ending July 31. Quoting Kuvempu, Mr. Siddramaiah had said: "The golden rays are visible on the horizon." But it has turned out that there are dark clouds on the horizon for the JD(S) and the Government.

What will be more irritating for both the Government as also the Opposition is the long duration of the session. It will last till August 5 according to the itinerary that has been drawn up.

The situation facing the JD(S) today is a throwback to what happened in 1986 when Ramakrishna Hegde was the Chief Minister and Mr. Deve Gowda, the senior-most Minister. Differences came into the open at the time of election to the Rajya Sabha when Hegde chose Ram Jethmalani as the party candidate. There was intense speculation whether Mr. Deve Gowda and his supporters would reach the polling booth at all. Mr. Jethmalani won the election to the relief of the Hegde group.

Disturbances

The Congress too had to face legislature sessions when its affairs were in turmoil. There were disturbances at a Congress Legislature Party meeting when M. Veerappa Moily was the Chief Minister during 1992-94. Even now it is remembered as the "flying saucers' meeting." The dissidents in the party had staged dharnas in the Assembly twice also during that period.

The coming session will also provide an opportunity for gauging the following of Mr. Siddaramaiah among the party MLAs and whether he can muster the two-thirds majority to bring about a split. No doubt Mr. Siddaramaiah has been dismissing questions on his differences with Mr. Deve Gowda, his sons and a few others and about his joining any other party. But acting to the contrary, he himself has openly received or met some of the Congress leaders who are speaking of his entry into their party, here and in New Delhi. He has not denied the statements being made by the Congress leaders H. Vishwanath and H.M. Revanna.

Chastened mood

Both the Congress and the Opposition BJP are in a chastened mood. Both are defeated parties going by the recent two byelections. They lost the Shimoga Lok Sabha and the Chamarajpet Assembly byelections. Both have much explaining to offer when the issue of their electoral reverses are raised in the two Houses. The BJP has in the Assembly two members to sing in praise of the former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa who won the Shimoga parliamentary byelection as the Samajwadi Party candidate. The two MLAs, Belur Gopalakrishna (Sagar) and H. Halappa (Hosanagar), had openly worked for Mr. Bangarappa in the byelection.

The coming session has on its agenda the discussion and approval of the demands for grants of various government departments. But matters political and the very future of the Government more than issues pertaining to the budget and State finances will dominate the session.

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