MAKING A POINT: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge speaking at a press conference at Mangalore airport on Tuesday. District Congress president Blasius M. D'Souza, Youth Congress president Jagannath Shetty Bondala and fo rmer MLA C.M. Ibrahim are seen.

MANGALORE: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday attributed the fall of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition Government to former Prime Minister and president of the Janata Dal (S) H.D. Deve Gowda.

Speaking to the presspersons at Mangalore airport on his way to Kerala for campaigning, Mr. Kharge said Mr. Deve Gowda had forgotten all ethics in politics.

He said all through his life, Mr. Deve Gowda had followed a "pseudo secular path", which was exposed when he staged a "well-rehearsed coup" against a truly secular party. He said Mr. Deve Gowda and his party had aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the sole interest of securing for his son, H.D. Kumaraswamy, the Chief Minister's post. For this, he sacrificed his party's ideology, Mr. Kharge added.

Diverse ideologies

Mr. Kharge criticised the present coalition as a "marriage of convenience" where two parties with diverse ideologies had come together to form a Government. He said that he and former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh knew that the new coalition would not last long and the cracks had started appearing in this coalition sooner than expected.

On the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor, Mr. Kharge alleged that the Janata Dal (S) under Mr. Deve Gowda had stalled the work. Mr. Kharge said in the recent panchayat elections the Congress had emerged victorious and in the coming elections to civic bodies, the Congress would re-enact that success.

He expressed hopes that the Congress would do "extremely well" in elections to the State Assemblies of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Mr. Kharge said these elections were important to the party, as they would reiterate its strength in southern States.

He said the pro-development government that the Congress had provided in Karnataka would influence the outcome of these elections.

Regarding Assam, Mr. Kharge said it had been the stronghold of the party and it would retain that position.

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