BANGALORE: Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh has again spoken of the fall of the Janata Dal (S)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition Government, as dissidence had emerged in both the parties.

Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Dharam Singh said that some disgruntled Janata Dal (S) MLAs had openly challenged the leadership of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and the latter had placated them at the meeting of the legislature party meeting. Contrasting it with his chief ministership, Mr. Dharam Singh said though the Congress had stalwarts in its ranks, none indulged in dissident activities and he was able to provide a good administration.

Mr. Dharam Singh rejected the charge that the Congress was trying to destabilise the Kumaraswamy Government. Nobody in the two ruling parties, particularly those in the Janata Dal (S), was happy with the way in which the Government was being run. Trouble was brewing in that party which might develop into a revolt. He asked why Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, "the blue-eyed boy of the Janata Dal (S) president H.D. Deve Gowda, had become disillusioned within six months."

In the BJP, he said, the suspended MLC G. Janardhan Reddy had said that he had taken the permission of his senior leaders before addressing the press conference at which he levelled the bribery charge against the Chief Minister. There was no coordination between the two partners on tackling the problems facing the people, he said. Criticising the claim of Mr. Deve Gowda that development had taken place in the last six months, Mr. Dharam Singh asked "Is curtailing the powers and flow of funds to village panchayats development?"

There was no industrial policy even six months after the Government came to power, he added. He reminded that it was during his tenure the Ananda Rao Circle flyover was completed and the final nod of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the Rs. 25,000 crore ONGC Project was given. The Karnataka Backward Classes Commission had not yet been reconstituted and internal reservation within the categories as ordered by the Supreme Court was yet to be implemented.

On the problems of drought and floods, Mr. Dharam Singh said the release of Rs. 3 crore as relief to Gulbarga district was meagre. The Government should release funds on its own without waiting for the Union Government to announce relief. He said the Congress leaders, who went as part of the delegation led by the Chief Minister to the Prime Minister, had on their own urged Dr. Manmohan Singh to release more relief to the State, as had been done in the case of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. He wanted to know whether the Government had utilised the Rs. 157 crore given by the Union Government last year. Contrary to the claim of the Government, resource mobilisation was wanting, he said.

He said the Congress leaders would again meet the Prime Minister to plead with him for releasing sufficient funds to the State to help the people affected by floods, especially in north Karnataka.

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister C.M. Udasi should tour the districts and provide instant relief to the affected people, he said.

He ridiculed Mr. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for not announcing any relief to the flood-affected areas. The people in the inundated villages were ready to be shifted to safe places, he said.

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