Karnataka - Madikeri   

`Administration has completely collapsed'

Staff Correspondent

Coalition Government termed as an `unholy alliance'

V. Srinivasprasad

Madikeri: Former Minister and Congress leader V. Srinivasprasad has criticised the coalition Government in the State terming it as an "unholy alliance" between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (S).

He was addressing a gathering in Virajpet to commemorate the 150th year of the First War of Indian Independence of 1857. The event was organised by the Kodagu District Congress Committee. He said the administrative machinery in the State had completely collapsed. The coalition was sitting on a "time bomb". When it would explode was a matter of time, he said.

Mr. Srinivasprasad criticised the role of the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, saying that he (Mr. Deve Gowda) does not enjoy popular support in the State. Mr. Deve Gowda and his sons were "time servers", he alleged. If the father became the Prime Minister with the help of Congress, the son (H.D. Kumaraswamy) became the Chief Minister with the support of the BJP, he remarked. Mr. Deve Gowda talked about "Lakshman Rekha" but his son clung on to power, he said.

He ridiculed Mr. Kumaraswamy for his stays in the villages, which, he said, had served no purpose. Mr. Kumaraswamy was an inexperienced person. He should have laid stress on improving the health, education sectors, and mitigating the miseries of farmers. Instead, he and his entourage were on a temple-visit spree and made merry at resorts, Mr. Srinivasprasad said. Mr. Srinivasprasad accused Mr. Kumaraswamy of bungling with regard to the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) issue, saying the inexperience of the Chief Minister has complicated the situation. Mr. Kumaraswamy should have consulted the Higher Education Minister and others concerned and convened a meeting to discuss the issue. How could a Chief Minister ask the temporary employees to lock the KSOU office? he asked. Such agitations should become peoples' movements instead of a party such as the Congress launching a fight against it, he said.

The former MLC, A.K. Subbaiah, who spoke earlier, said the Congress should adopt the policy of Satyagraha to fight the communalists. It was the best weapon used by Mahatma Gandhi to drive out the British from the country.

The former Minister, Suma Vasant, spoke. President of the Kodagu District Congress Committee Veena Achaiah presided over the function.

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