By IANS
Bangalore/New Delhi : In a dramatic turnaround Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday came together to stake claim to form a coalition government in Karnataka just three weeks after falling apart over power transfer. The governor sought individual letters from legislators supporting the combine.
The move paves the way for the installation of the first BJP chief minister in south India, with the BJP-JD-S combine claiming the support of 126 legislators in the 225-member Karnataka assembly.
“Yes. The governor wants individual letters from BJP and JD-S legislators and our legislature party is meeting Sunday when these will be collected,” a senior BJP leader told IANS.
“JD-S leaders will collect the letters from their legislators similarly and submit them to the governor,” said the BJP leader who did not want to be identified.
JD-S and BJP leaders met Governor Rameshwar Thakur Saturday afternoon and submitted separate letters urging him to invite BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa to form the government.
The climb-down by JD-S three weeks after refusing to transfer power to BJP as agreed 20 months back followed attempts by a section of JD-S legislators led by former home minister M.P. Prakash to form a government with the Congress once more.
JD-S president and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda — who had opposed handing over power to BJP leading to the fall of the ministry headed by his son H.D. Kumaraswamy on Oct 8 — “sorted out the differences” after a talk with BJP president Rajnath Singh in New Delhi Saturday.
Following his green signal, Kumaraswamy, Yediyurappa and state BJP and JD-S chiefs D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Merajuddin Patel met Thakur and submitted separate letters staking claim to form the government under Yediyurappa’s leadership.
Soon after meeting the governor, Kumaraswamy told reporters outside Raj Bhavan (governor’s official residence) that all 58 JD-S legislators backed the party decision to support a Yediyurappa-led government.
Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa justified the re-alliance after the bitter row with each calling the other untrustworthy, saying they had come together to thwart the efforts of the Congress to gain power through the back door.
Prakash is contesting Kumaraswamy’s letter to the governor. He has termed it illegal and invalid.
Prakash, who was in New Delhi for talks with Congress leaders, faxed a letter to Thakur urging him not to accept Kumaraswamy’s letter of support as the JD-S legislature party meeting had not been formally convened to decide on the issue.
In Bangalore, Kumaraswamy said he would talk to Prakash and “take him along” in endorsing the party’s decision.
Once the governor gets individual letters from BJP and JD-S legislators, he will begin consultations with constitutional experts on the courses open to him.
The Congress, meanwhile, sought continuation of president’s rule saying that BJP and JD-S were indulging in opportunistic politics and the governor should not entertain their request to form a government.
Kumaraswamy justified the decision to support a BJP-led government claiming the Congress was trying to split his party. He had given the same reason in February 2006 to bring down the Congress-JD-S coalition government formed after the fractured verdict in the assembly polls of May 2004.
In New Delhi, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said Saturday afternoon that Deve Gowda and Rajnath Singh discussed “old issues in a cordial atmosphere”.
“Today’s support given by the JD-S is unconditional,” he said.
When reminded that the BJP had accused the JD-S of treachery towards the people of Karnataka when it withdrew support, Rudy said: “In politics, there is always a possibility of course correction”.
He said both parties would also contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in alliance.
JD-S leaders in New Delhi also blamed the Congress for Saturday’s political developments.
“Deve Gowda had written to the president and the prime minister urging them to immediately dissolve the Karnataka assembly. But instead of doing that they were busy trying to break our party,” said JD-S general secretary Kunwar Danish Ali in New Delhi.
“Had we not moved now, the Congress would have walked away with half of our legislature party and left the other half at the mercy of the BJP,” Ali claimed.
The BJP has 79 members in the assembly, including one nominated member. The Congress is the second largest party with 65 members. The JD-S has 58 members, though there is a question mark on seven of them who had earlier expressed a desire to join the Congress. Smaller parties and independents make up the rest.