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Thursday, Dec 14, 2006
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Gowda fires another salvo at dissidents

P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI: Firing another salvo at dissidents in his party, the Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, on Wednesday authorised the Chief Whip of the party in the Lok Sabha, M. Shivanna, to convene a meeting of the party's parliamentary party.

Confirming this, party general secretary and spokesperson Kumwar Danish Ali said that though in the normal course such a meeting should have been convened by the leader of the parliamentary party, MP Veerendra Kumar, Mr. Gowda had authorised Mr. Shivanna to convene the meeting as Mr. Kumar had been refusing to do so for over a year now.

Asked whether it meant that Mr. Kumar was being removed as leader of the parliamentary party, he said it was for the party to decide. "Mr. Deve Gowda believes in democracy. He has only authorised Mr. Shivanna to convene the meeting as Mr. Kumar had not held it for long.''

Mr. Kumar had been spearheading a campaign against Mr. Gowda, along with veteran socialist Surendra Mohan and former Karnataka Minister P.G.R. Sindhia accusing him of siding with "communal forces'' by supporting the coalition Government formed in Karnataka by his son, H.D. Kumaraswamy, in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Mr. Sindhia was suspended from the party last week on the ground that he had openly supported the Congress candidate, Siddaramaiah, in the recently concluded by-election to the Chamundeswari Assembly seat.

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