By IANS
New Delhi : The possibility of Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy handing over power to his deputy B.S. Yediyurappa of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday receded further with his party the Janata Dal-Secular announcing Monday that it would decide on the issue only on Oct 5 in New Delhi.
JD-S general secretary Kunwar Dansih Ali told IANS here: “Any decision regarding Karnataka will be taken by the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) only on or after October 5.”
Kumaraswamy, son of former prime minister and JD-S chief H.D. Deve Gowda, had come to an agreement with the BJP in February 2006 under which both the parties were to lead their coalition government for 20 months each.
Kumaraswamy first assumed office, and his terms comes to an end on Tuesday. He is supposed to resign on Oct 3 and let Deputy Chief Minister and BJP legislative party leader Yediyurappa to be sworn in as the chief minister.
But in the meantime, the JD-S has taken offence to certain allegations against the chief minister made by Tourism Minister B Sriramulu. BJP vice president Yeshwant Sinha, currently camping in Bangalore, has met Deve Gowda to persuade him to honour the agreement.
But the JD-S decision has dashed hopes of transfer of power at least on the appointed date of Oct 3.
There are 15 members in the JD-S Political Affairs Committee (PAC), including Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy, state Home Minister M.P. Prakash, former minister D. Manjunath and Karnataka state president Merajuddin Patel and Danshi Ali.