The Hindu : National : No threat to Karnataka coalition: Deve Gowda

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Friday, Jul 29, 2005

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No threat to Karnataka coalition: Deve Gowda

Special Correspondent

Says he does not want to "hurt the present arrangement" at the Centre

"The coalition government era is going to continue. We cannot blame the people for the fractured verdict. There is no need to post- mortem do"

— Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

The former Prime Minister, H. D. Deve Gowda, at The Hindu office in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: While admitting that there were differences over policies with the United Progressive Alliance Government, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Deve Gowda on Thursday said he did not want to "hurt the present arrangement" at the Centre.

Talking to journalists during a visit to the office of The Hindu , he said that though the JD (S) had fought bitterly with the Congress, he had agreed to form the government with the Congress in Karnataka to curtail the growth of fundamentalist forces.

"Whatever may be the minor irritations, we continue the same relationship with the Congress in Karnataka. There is no question of any threat so far as the Karnataka coalition is concerned," he said.

Harsh criticism

While some people were unhappy at his harsh criticism of the Union budget, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself had gone on record that one of the worst affected areas since 1996-97 was the agricultural sector.

Mr. Gowda wanted the Prime Minister to take the initiative for bringing together all parties to discuss important national issues. "The coalition government era is going to continue. We cannot blame the people for the fractured verdict. There is no need to do post-mortem. But on certain issues, all parties should sit across the table ... and come to some understanding," he said.

Insisting that he was not making this suggestion for his party's electoral benefit, Mr. Gowda said his concern was the "degeneration" in every walk of life. "Can you not sit across the table and try to come up with some agreed solution?" The Bharatiya Janata Party too had stalwarts such as A.B. Vajpayee and L.K. Advani. The regional opposition leaders too should be called for such discussions.

The purpose of such discussions, he said, was not to destabilise the UPA Government. "Let this present arrangement continue. If anybody replaces Manmohan Singh, is he going to solve the problems?"

Emotions unhelpful

To a question on the Cauvery dispute, he said raising the emotions of the people on the issue would not help. The problem could not be solved through a legal battle. "Either today or tomorrow, we must sit across the table and solve the problem," he said. In this context, Mr. Gowda recalled that he had ordered the discharge of Cauvery water during his chiefministership despite facing criticism from the opposition parties. Except for three or four years, Karnataka had released more water than what was stipulated by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The problems of farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were "one and the same," he said. "We should try to share the sorrow and joy together. I do not want to mix politics."

Mr. Gowda identified accountability and transparency in governance, curbing all types of religious fundamentalism, national security and foreign policy as some of the important issues. Underscoring the importance of proper articulation of foreign policy, he said all the parties should sit together and discuss the relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement in the present context. "What happened after the Prime Minister went to the United States?" After a lot of talk about India getting a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, he said this had now been deferred for an indefinite period. Noting that the former Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao, had formulated a Look East policy, he wondered what happened to the policy now. "Are we to be guided by the U.S.?"

`Bitter experience'

After 13 years of liberalisation and economic reforms, "we have bitterly experienced certain pitfalls," he said. Referring to the uproar in Parliament over the Gurgaon violence, he said there should also be a consensus on changing labour laws. There was need for a collective decision on issues such as the population policy.

Touching on unemployment as another major issue, he said mass labour was being replaced by machine. There was need to debate on how to move forward. While on the one side there was growth, on the other side "we are witnessing how the poverty is growing."

Besides the earlier urban-rural divide, inequalities in the urban areas were also on the rise. "Are we to accept the hire and fire policy?" he asked. While he was not against privatisation, there must be some basis for the survival and decent living of the employee, he said.

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