The Hindu : Karnataka News : People are fed up with ‘20-20 coalition’: Krishna

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Karnataka

People are fed up with ‘20-20 coalition’: Krishna

Staff Correspondent

Says Congress alone can offer a stable government

S.M. Krishna

TUMKUR: Former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, on Wednesday, took a dig at the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. He said Mr. Deve Gowda had written a complaint against him to the Union Government.

Launching the Congress campaign at Tiptur in Tumkur district in the afternoon, Mr. Krishna said: “Mr. Deve Gowda took objection to my frequent visits to Bangalore from Mumbai [when he was the Maharashtra Governor].”

He said in 2004, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked him to accept the post of Governor of Maharashtra. “Although I did not want to, I went as a disciplined Congress soldier. However, I could not forget the people of Karnataka. Hence, I used to visit Bangalore by responding to all invitations,” he said.

He said Mr. Deve Gowda wrote to the Centre complaining against my visits to Bangalore.

“Actually, my relative [meaning Mr. Gowda] had advised the Centre to banish me from Karnataka.”

Mr. Krishna said: “The post of Maharastra Governor is special. It has higher credence than all other State Governors. It is because of the application of Article 371 of the Constitution for the development of the most backward region of Vidarbha.” He lamented that Mr. Gowda was unable to comprehend it.

Mr. Krishna said the people of Karnataka had witnessed the unprecedented degradation of governance during the 20-month rule of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition. “I am confident that the people will never make a mistake of voting these two parties back to power,” he said.

“It was just a non-stop wrangle between the partners over sharing the booty of power all through. Each party was always engaged in disparaging the other,” he said.

“People know that the Janata Dal (S)-BJP coalition government did not take a single step towards development of the State,” Mr. Krishna said.

Mr. Krishna claimed that the Congress alone could provide a stable government at the Centre and in the States. “It is more so in Karnataka, where Congress has proved it from 1999 to 2004,” he said.

He said people had become fed up of the nuisances of “the Twenty20 coalition government. You must give clear majority to the Congress to give good governance for the full term of 60 months,” he said.

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