By IANS
Bangalore : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has just a day to decide on the conditions set by its coalition partner i9n Karnataka, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), or face the prospects of its first chief minister in south, B.S. Yeddyurappa, being voted out of office Monday.
Yeddyurappa, sworn in as chief minister of the BJP-JD-S coalition government Nov 12, is to prove his majority in the assembly Nov 19.
The JD-S wants him and his party to reach a written understanding with it by Sunday on the conditions it has set for support and smooth functioning of the coalition government.
Ahead of the trust vote in the assembly, JD-S has summoned a meeting of its legislators here Sunday to decide on its strategy in case the BJP did not accept the conditions.
Though the JD-S initially extended unconditional support and its legislators gave Governor Rameshwar Thakur individual letters and sworn affidavits to that effect, their president H.D. Deve Gowda is now insisting on accepting certain conditions to continuing the support.
Deve Gowda, a former prime minister, wrote to BJP president Rajnath Singh Nov 1 setting out 12 conditions that mainly demand a powerful role to his son and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in running the coalition.
Rajnath Singh has not responded to Deve Gowda’s letter.
This has angered Deve Gowda as 16 days have passed since he sent the draft of ‘memorandum of understanding’ (MoU).
Moreover, the JD-S has also added several new conditions like sharing key portfolios.
“The trust vote will be smooth only if the two parties reach a written understanding on our suggestions,” JD-S spokesperson Y.S.V. Datta told reporters Friday night.
His ultimatum came even as Yeddyurappa said in New Delhi there was no question of signing an MoU with JD-S.
There was no MoU in place when the two parties ran their coalition government for 20 months till October, he told reporters in the national capital after meeting his party leaders and calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and central ministers.
The JD-S and BJP were in power together till October with Kumaraswamy as chief minister and Yeddyurappa as his deputy.
The BJP pulled out of the alliance as Kumaraswamy refused to make way for Yeddyurappa as per the understanding the two had reached when they formed the coalition in February 2006.
After bitter exchange of charges for three weeks, the JD-S somersaulted and extended support to Yeddyurappa whose survival in office now depends on acceptance of the coalition partner’s conditions.
The BJP has 79 members in the 225-member assembly. Though JD-S has 51 members, only 49 of them have agreed to support the Yeddurappa-led ministry. One independent member has also pledged support.
Yeddyurappa told reporters in New Delhi that all issues regarding the JD-S conditions would be sorted out after the trust vote.
However, JDS has now upped the ante and wants BJP to sign the MoU ahead of the trust vote.
A BJP spokesperson said the party was waiting for Yeddyurappa’s return to Bangalore late Saturday to decide its course of action.