Bangalore: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge has ruled out any chance of a rapprochement with the Janata Dal (Secular) in the wake of the reported meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and JD(S) president H.D. Deve Gowda in New Delhi a few days ago.

Mr. Kharge told presspersons here on Thursday that the Congress might be forced to launch an agitation demanding the implementation of Governor T.N. Chaturvedi's message to the Legislative Council to elect a Chairman.

The former Minister B.K. Chandrashekar and V.S. Ugrappa, Veeranna Mathikatti and Prakash Rathod, MLCs, were present at the press conference.

Mr. Kharge said that acting Chairman N. Thippanna had unconstitutionally barred 33 Congress MLCs from participating in the proceedings of the just-concluded session and attending meetings of various legislature committees.

Mr. Kharge alleged that the JD(S)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government was the outcome of an illegal alliance.

Mr. Thippanna's scant regard for the Governor's message to hold the election "as soon as possible" was a blow to democratic institutions. He said the Supreme Court had clarified that `as soon as possible' meant a period say five to ten days within which the Government should start the process of conducting the election. But Mr. Thippanna had failed to abide by the direction.

Denies knowledge

Asked whether the Congress was not being more aggressive in its approach to the matter because of the reported understanding between Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Deve Gowda, Mr. Kharge said he had no knowledge of any such meeting between the two leaders.

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