By IANS
Bangalore : Only after the Dussehra festival concludes on Sunday will a clear picture emerge on whether the Karnataka assembly faces dissolution or a coalition government of the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) will be formed in the state.
Both parties were waiting for a signal from their central leaders on early polls or an alternative government to take the place of the JD-S-Bharatiya Jantata Party (BJP) coalition that collapsed early this month over the power transfer row.
“We will have discussions with our national president H.D. Deve Gowda on Oct 22 and go by his decision,” JD-S state president Merajuddin Patel told IANS here Thursday.
A majority of the 51 JD-S legislators is against early polls and has authorised Patel, former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and senior party leader M.P. Prakash to hold talks with Deve Gowda on the issue.
Kumaraswamy quit as chief minister on Oct 8 after the BJP withdrew from his coalition ministry to protest his refusal to hand over power to the BJP following the February 206 agreement between the two parties on rotational power sharing.
Kumaraswamy favours early polls and is against an alliance with the Congress as he himself had brought down the Congress-JD-S government in February 2006 by aligning with the BJP.
However, a majority of his party legislators believes that Kumaraswamy’s refusal to hand over power to the BJP has generated a sympathy wave for that party and they would have tough time facing the electorate in the present situation.
“There is no fresh development on the formation of a government,” Patel said.
“We have not had any discussion with them nor have they approached us,” he said when asked about the Congress and the JD-S coming together again to avoid early polls.
“Any decision on this issue will be only after the festival,” said Dharam Singh, senior Congress leader and former chief minister.
“Madam (Congress president Sonia Gandhi) has been busy and any decision will be only after the festival,” the leader of the opposition said when asked about the long time taken by his party’s central leadership to make clear its stand.
Meanwhile, the BJP has been busy with its ‘Dharma Yuddh’ (holy war) rallies across the state to expose the JD-S ‘betrayal’. Addressing huge gatherings, the party leaders have been calling for immediate dissolution of the assembly and holding of early polls.
The 10-day Dussehra festival in Karnataka concludes Oct 21 with the famous ‘Jamboo Savari’, procession of the caparisoned elephants, in the state’s cultural capital Mysore, 139 km from here.