NEW DELHI/BANGALORE, 7 October 2007 — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday ended its 20-month-old coalition with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in Karnataka and called for fresh elections, terming the latter’s refusal to keep its promise and hand over power as “the worst betrayal” in Indian politics.
The BJP made the announcement at a press conference in New Delhi, hours after JD-S chief and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda conveyed his party’s decision not to give the reins of office to BJP in violation of a power-sharing deal the two parties reached early last year.
The BJP’s decision, to be conveyed to Karnataka Gov. Rameshwar Thakur this noon, makes Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy the head of a minority government and could lead to early elections if the Congress decides not to prop up the JD-S.
“In normal circumstances, the power should have been transferred. But now the JD-S has a number of excuses,” BJP Vice President Yashwant Sinha told reporters. “The (BJP) has decided to withdraw support to the Kumaraswamy government.” The announcement signaled the collapse of the BJP’s dream of ruling a state in southern India for the first time.
Speaking after a meeting of the BJP’s parliamentary board, Sinha said that Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and state unit President Sadanand Gowda would give the governor a letter intimating the withdrawal of support.
“We want fresh elections in the state,” Sinha demanded. Former BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu described the Karnataka development as the “worst betrayal of any political party in the country.” Naidu said: “The people of Karnataka will not forgive them. They will teach them a befitting reply.” Amid reports that Deve Gowda was trying to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, Congress leaders said in Bangalore that the party would abide by what their “high command” tells them to do.
A large section of the Congress is reportedly against early elections and would not mind propping up the JD-S. Another group, still angry over the way the JD-S ditched a Congress-led coalition and teamed up with the BJP last year, wants no further truck with the party.
The Congress and JD-S are the second and third largest parties in the state assembly and had formed a coalition government after the 2004 hung verdict in a bid to keep out the BJP, the single largest party.
But the JD-S ditched the Congress after accusing it of high-handedness and teamed up with the BJP in 2006 with a pledge to give charge of Karnataka to the BJP on Oct. 3, 2007. That never happened after the JD-S came up with a list of unexpected demands the BJP found impossible to meet.
Looking dejected, BJP’s Sinha — a bureaucrat-turned-politician — said his party had learned a bitter lesson. “We have learnt a lesson, we have to be careful in future (while forming coalitions),” he said. BJP spokesman S. Suresh Kumar said in Bangalore that 10,000 supporters would assemble today at the Gandhi statue, close to Raj Bhavan. BJP legislators would meet at 11 a.m. to formally endorse the decision to snap ties with the JD-S.
All eyes are now on the governor — and the Congress too. One option before Thakur is to sack the Kumaraswamy-led ministry after the BJP formally informs him of its withdrawal of support. The JD-S has only 51 members in the 225-strong assembly. The BJP has 79 members and the Congress 65. The JD-S won 58 seats in 2004 but seven MLAs aligned with JD-S rebel leader Siddaramaiah, who has joined the Congress. The fate of six of his supporters is in the hands of assembly Speaker K.R. Pet Krishna.
The governor’s decision will depend on the stand the Congress takes. The Congress has said it will move only after the BJP meets the governor to inform him of its withdrawal of support to the JD-S.
“We are not in a hurry to disclose our cards,” a senior leader told IANS. “The Congress has considered various options. Let the JD-S make the first move, if it wants our support.” A Congress leader acknowledged that a substantial section of legislators were against early elections.
