The Hindu : Front Page : Coordination panel may meet to resolve Janata Dal (S)-BJP rift

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Coordination panel may meet to resolve Janata Dal (S)-BJP rift

A. Jayaram and Alladi Jayasri

There is no threat to the coalition Government, says Sadananda Gowda

Bangalore: The war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) over the issue of nominations to institutions has abated.

The BJP issued to the press the list of nominations of Janata Dal (S) activists to cooperative institutions, especially milk unions, in defence of the allegation of unilateralism levelled by its State unit president D.V. Sadananada Gowda.

However, definite indications of defusing the situation are available. There are suggestions that the coordination committee will meet to resolve the differences. Only Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa did not want matters to come to a head. He declined to speak to the press and said that the issue was not for public discussion. They would talk it over, he said.

But Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy reiterated that he was ready to quit office.

He was not the one to stick to his chair and he considered keeping his assurances to the people to be more important. He was speaking to the press at Toobugere in Mandya district on Monday.

Mr. Sadananda Gowda, Mangalore MP, maintained his aggressive streak and said in Madikeri that the BJP too was ready to face elections. However, he added that the exchange of letters between him and the Chief Minister did not mean that matters had come to a head and it was the end of the young coalition.

The State BJP spokesman who came out in defence of Mr. Sadananda Gowda and issued the list of nominations to the press, said that the Chief Minister should understand the spirit of the letter sent to him by their party president.

BJP sources concede that Mr. Sadananda Gowda's letter to the Chief Minister in that regard had made it appear that the brand new coalition had lost its shine, and the first cracks have made their appearance.

However, the fact is that though the BJP has always insisted that the coordination committee of both parties is the best forum to raise issues and settle them, not even one meeting of that panel has been held. The committee was constituted on March 15, the day the Common Minimum Programme of the Karnataka Development Front was announced.

Meanwhile, the BJP spokesperson S. Suresh Kumar has issued a statement, urging the Chief Minister to "bury the hatchet."

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