NEW DELHI/BANGALORE, 5 October 2007 — Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) President H.D. Deve Gowda said yesterday he will meet Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh tomorrow in a final bid to save their coalition in Karnataka even as Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy announced a Cabinet meeting today which the BJP is set to boycott. The ongoing political imbroglio has, meanwhile, fuelled speculations the state is heading for mid-term elections.

Gowda told his party’s state executive committee meeting here that he proposed to have “frank discussions” with Rajnath Singh one last time in New Delhi. “If there is an understanding, it is fine. Otherwise, each party will have a right to take its own decision.

“In another 48 hours, the final outcome (on power transfer in Karnataka) will be known,” declared the former prime minister. The JD-S state executive committee meeting has authorized Gowda to take a final decision on whether or not to hand over the post of chief minister to the BJP as agreed to by his son Kumaraswamy 20 months back.

Gowda’s decision to travel to New Delhi came as Kumaraswamy sprang a surprise by calling a Cabinet meeting today though all 17 BJP ministers of the coalition have resigned seeking early transfer of power to their party. “The Cabinet meeting will be held at 9.30 a.m.,” a spokesperson for the chief minister said. Kumaraswamy has convened the Cabinet meeting, but at the same time suggested that he was in no mood to hand over power to BJP. He said he was ready to break his word on power transfer. “We will go to people’s court,” he said. He also expressed confidence that a section of BJP was ready to align with JD-S. In other words, if the BJP declines to support Kumaraswamy as the chief minister, it may be heading for mid-term polls.

There was also speculation that Kumaraswamy, at today’s meeting, may decide to seek a meeting of the assembly to prove his legislative majority. Such a meeting could take place on Oct. 10. A furious BJP said its ministers would not attend the meeting.

Kumaraswamy also met Gov. Rameshwar Thakur in the evening to inform him of the political developments.

“It is a very strange development,” party spokesman S. Suresh Kumar told IANS, referring to Kumaraswamy’s decision to hold a Cabinet meeting when half his ministers have given their resignation letters to him to press for transfer of power to the BJP. The deadline for transfer of power expired on Wednesday.

“Their resignations have not been accepted. We have no information whether they will attend or not,” Kumaraswamy’s spokesperson said.

All 17 BJP ministers resigned Tuesday, the day Kumaraswamy’s 20-month tenure as chief minister ended.

“When our ministers gave the resignation letters, Kumaraswamy asked them to wait till Oct. 5 as his party’s meeting was scheduled for that day.

“He has not responded so far. The ball is in his court. Convening a Cabinet meeting at this point of time is a very strange development,” Suresh Kumar said.

Kumaraswamy, who derailed a Congress-JD-S coalition government to shake hands with the BJP in January 2006, yesterday added to the bitterness by saying that he was ready to break his deal with BJP “in the interests of people and his party.”

He also claimed that a section of the BJP was ready to align with the JD-S but did not give further details.

Gowda has announced that the JD-S will hand over charge to BJP only if the latter does not make its Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa Karnataka’s new chief minister and also allows the JD-S to retain the home and Public Works Department (PWD) portfolios. Gowda and his chief minister son are aware that the BJP is desperate to take power in Karnataka because it would be the first southern state the party would get to rule.

But after notching up a big success in local civic body polls, the JD-S has become all the more aggressive despite having the least number of seats in the Karnataka legislature (58) compared to the BJP (79) and its former ally Congress (65). A party or coalition needs 113 seats in the 224-member assembly to rule.

Amid the war between the JD-S — the chief minister called the BJP “immature” — and the BJP, the Congress is waiting and watching. It is not saying what it wants to do although many in the party do not want to prop up the JD-S again.