The Hindu : Front Page : Rajnath Singh remained firm

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Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
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Rajnath Singh remained firm

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: It was a firm “no” by Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh to Karnataka unit leaders late Monday evening that put an end to the efforts in Bangalore to hammer out a fresh coalition between the Janata Dal (Secular) and the BJP.

Authoritative sources in the BJP here confirmed that its State unit was tempted by the prospect of continuing the alliance, which would have given the party a chance to head the Karnataka government.

However, after Saturday’s decision by the BJP Parliamentary Board to call off the pact with the JD (S), the leadership took the view that the goodwill generated among the people, by the party’s insistence that the JD(S) honour the power-sharing agreement, would evaporate if the BJP was again seen as being ready to do business with the JD(S).

A senior BJP leader said: “It became clear in Bangalore on Saturday evening that there was a revolt by a section of the JD(S) legislators, especially those belonging to the Lingayat community. The public perception that the JD (S) went back on an agreement, which was transparent and made public 20 months ago, also went against the JD (S). So much bad blood had been created between the two parties. Any vacillation by the BJP at this stage would have hurt the party.”

Mr. Singh was in Agra on Saturday evening and the party’s leader in-charge of Karnataka affairs Yashwant Sinha was in Hazaribagh. Neither of them favoured any attempt to build bridges with the JD(S). After telephonic consultations with other senior leaders as well, Mr. Singh gave a clear direction to his State unit: immediately call off any talks with the JD(S).

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