The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘BJP cannot stake claim to Government’s achievements’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

‘BJP cannot stake claim to Government’s achievements’

Special Correspondent

I will stand by party’s decision on power transfer: Jayakumar

D.T. Jayakumar

GULBARGA: Housing Minister D.T. Jayakumar continued his diatribe against the coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party and in particular Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, saying that the BJP has no right to claim the achievements of the coalition Government as its own.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Jayakumar said the Deputy Chief Minister should stop from declaring himself the next Chief Minister. The other leaders in the BJP should announce the name of the person for the post.

He said that there has been confusion in the BJP on who should be selected for the post in the event of transfer of power. “While Mr. Yediyurappa is a self-proclaimed candidate for the post, there are MLAs who want Ananth Kumar to be Chief Minister, while others want K.S. Eshwarappa and Jagdish Shettar as Chief Minister,” he said.

On whether the Janata Dal (S) would agree to transfer power smoothly, the Minister said, “Let the internal bickering in the BJP on the leadership issue is solved, we can think of transferring power later”. Mr. Jayakumar clarified that although he felt that H.D. Kumaraswamy should continue as Chief Minister, he would abide by the decision of the party’s president H.D. Deve Gowda, State unit president M.P. Prakash and Mr. Kumaraswamy on the issue. He criticised the BJP leaders for taking credit for the success of arrack and lottery ban and waiving farmers’ loan and wanted to know whether the manifesto of the BJP had promised to waive farmers’ loan, ban sale of arrack and lottery. “The BJP leaders have no right to claim that these achievements were part of their party’s agenda. They should have the magnanimity to declare these achievements as the achievement of the coalition Government,” he said.

He said if the BJP claims that the banning of arrack, lottery and waiving farmers’ loan as their agenda why these things were not done in the BJP-ruled States, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Similarly, the Congress also has no right to claim any right on the reduction of interest rate on farm loans, he said and asked if that was the case why it had not implemented the same in the States ruled by it.

Mr. Jayakumar said that the Janata Dal (S) legislators had no other alternative but to join hands with the BJP to defeat the designs of the Congress to break the Janata Dal (S) and also to avoid a mid-term election. The Congress also has no right to blame the Janata Dal (S) legislators for the fall of the N. Dharam Singh Government and said that that Government was brought down by the Congress leaders who were self-centred.

On whether the Janata Dal (S) would have truck with the Congress again, the Minister said that in politics nothing was certain and added that “anything can happen in politics.”

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