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Karnataka’s Chief Minister-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday said that he had got a chance to serve the people again by God’s grace and his parents’ blessings despite a fractured mandate in the May 12 elections.

“Although the people did not bless me and our party with a clear mandate, I have got an opportunity again to serve them by God’s grace and my parent’s blessings,” Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) state President Kumaraswamy told reporters here.

On a visit to his home town Holenarsipur, about 180 km from Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy prayed at the Ranganatha Swamy and Laskhminarasimha Swamy temples here for the success of the JD-S-Congress coalition government that will come to power when he takes oath on Wednesday.

“A great responsibility is being given to me again to serve the people, especially farmers, women and youths. I am sure I will rise to the occasion with God’s blessings, people’s wishes and the support of the Congress,” said Kumaraswamy.

Clarifying that he was not becoming the Chief Minister for the second time for the sake of power, the JD-S leader said that he accepted the Congress offer to head the coalition government to work for the people’s welfare.

“This is big challenge. As I know the problems of the people, I will strive to address them,” added Kumaraswamy.

Governor Vajubjai Vala invited the 58-year-old JD-S legislative party leader on Saturday to form the coalition government after the fall of the three-day BJP government led by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who resigned even before the trust vote was conducted since his party was seven MLAs short of the halfway mark to prove simple majority in a house of 222 members.

According to the Chief Minister’s Office, Kumaraswamy will take oath at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday in front of the state Secretariat (Vidhan Soudha) in Bengaluru in the presence of national leaders and about a lakh people.

This is the second time that Kumaraswamy, the third son of JD-S supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Chennamma, will be the Chief Minister, and 12 years after the JD-S formed a coalition government with the BJP on February 4, 2006. He occupied the CM office for 20 months till October 9, 2007, during his earlier stint.

“I am not the only one taking oath tomorrow. There will be others also,” said JD(S) state president and chief minister designate H D Kumaraswamy.

He was speaking to reporters on Tuesday, May 22 here.

He did not give details, but said few including some MLAs from Congress may take oath with him. He is scheduled to take oath as chief minister in front of Vidhana Soudha at 4.30 pm on Wednesday, May 22. More than four lacs of people are expected to witness the event.

Kumaraswamy said that he will finalise the names of MLAs taking oath after consulting Congress leaders K C Venugopal and Siddaramaiah.

Kumaraswamy had earlier said that he is the only person taking oath on Wednesday with others likely to take oath after the trust vote.

Kumaraswamy is visiting Dharmasthala and Sringeri today.

Kumaraswamy said, “his decision to head a JDS-Congress coalition was necessary to ‘correct’ the political situation in the country .”
Karnataka’s chief minister-elect HD Kumaraswamy, says that his decision to head a JDS-Congress coalition was necessary to “correct” the political situation in the country and not to fulfil a personal ambition. He said that BJP was still trying to lure MLAs from the coalition ahead of the vote of confidence that he had planned to take on May 24.

Wanted to become king through the mandate of the people, not like this. The first time, in 2006, I became CM due to political developments. Today also, my situation is the same. It is not because of the blessings of the people. Why didn’t the people of Karnataka understand what I feel? Why didn’t they have belief in me? I am feeling terrible about that. I am not a politician, I am an emotional being. I know what people’s troubles are, what their expectations are. If I have to bring in solutions… people have seen both the BJP and Congress; I thought people will give me a chance. But I (JDS) got lesser seats than last time.
This is not my personal option. Today, the country is in anticipation of a new change, a section of people are expecting a change.

Several opposition leaders also feel that the situation is such that the country and society are being divided. They want to join hands and correct it. I am responding to this feeling and sending a political message to the rest of the country. I was not desperate to become the chief minister. I have already been the CM, no one can take the ‘former chief minister’ tag away from me.

They (Congress) came forward voluntarily and offered unconditional support to a five-year term headed by me. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad called me and said they had taken a unanimous decision on this. I asked for time, but he said I had to decide immediately. I went to my father (former PM HD Deve Gowda) and said these are the two options, and I followed what he decided. In 2006, when I went with the BJP, doubts were raised across the country about Deve Gowda and that ‘father-son’ were doing drama to get the chief minister’s post. It is a black mark I have put on him and I had to make that go away. So, despite pressure on me from multiple sides, I have set out to give a message to the country. At least now, let that black dot be wiped out.

The BJP didn’t get to 104 seats on its own effort. There was a systematic attempt to tell the Muslim community that we (JDS) would go with BJP. It is not that it is Congress party, but some people did. A team of mullahs and retired Muslim officers went all over the state to say don’t vote for JDS. It is irrelevant now who encouraged them to do so. But whom this has impacted is there for all to see. It is because of the Muslim community’s decision that BJP has got 104 seats. It is also the Muslim community’s decision which has brought me to this situation. It has harmed you (the community), not me.

What is the message you are setting out to give the country with a coalition with such bitterness?
During the election (campaign) and otherwise we have mounted agitations, made statements against each other. But the country’s situation is such that a message of secular parties must be sent. There is an undeclared emergency in this country. The central government is misusing institutions and the kind of efforts they have made, nobody has done in 70 years. This has to be corrected. Four years ago, they promised a big change and won. There has been no change. Now they are asking for another five years and that 2024 will see change. We, all regional parties and Congress, have to join hands and fight this, in my opinion. And that is the message we are sending from Karnataka. Several major changes in national politics have come from our state, 100% this (the coalition government) is a turning point for the 2019 election.

He is a youngster. In today’s political environment, he should take the lead. My suggestion is that the decisions he takes should not give any kind of weapon to our opponents. He should work in such a way that people will support and praise him.

Definitely, there will be a role. They have set aside all differences and come forward to hold my hand. I am responding to that. I am asking our BJP friends to keep the welfare of the state in mind, and not party enmity, during the vote of confidence.
They (the BJP) are still trying to lure our MLAs and defeat me. The efforts they made to break us are there for all to see. But we will win.

Congress will get the post of speaker and a deputy chief minister in Karnataka, the first names that party president Rahul Gandhi will decide in the coming hours ahead of HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in as chief minister + of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government on Wednesday.
The chief minister-designate met Rahul and his mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, at the Congress chief’s residence here on Monday evening.
The visit was a courtesy call to invite the Congress leaders for the swearing-in. It was preceded by a half-hour meeting with pre-poll ally and BSP chief Mayawati, JD (S) secretary general Danish Ali said. Rahul and Kumaraswamy alluded to the history of acrimony between Congress and JD(S) to say they should forget the past and look to the future.
Congress sources said the party’s entire focus was on Kumaraswamy’s oath, election of the speaker and the confidence motion, and that no formal negotiations were held on the specifics of power-sharing.
The reason, sources said, was that any formal discussion would spill over in public and create a controversy which the Congress-JD(S) combine can ill-afford given the backdrop of the hastily cobbled alliance and drama over government formation.

What the by-elections or the Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh couldn’t, the result of the Karnataka polls may do – bring Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav to the same stage at the same time.

The heads of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party respectively have been invited by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy for his swearing-in ceremony as Karnataka chief minister on Wednesday, and the offices of the two have said that they would attend.

The two parties had forged an understanding during the bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in March and fought the Rajya Sabha polls together. They have also confirmed that the alliance would continue till 2019 polls, but the two leaders haven’t shared the stage even once since then.

An invite was also sent to Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, whose party had fought the Karnataka election but lost its deposits on all 29 seats.

Kumaraswamy, who is in Delhi to meet Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday to finalize the distribution of portfolios, will first call on Mayawati. The JD(S) and the BSP had fought the Karnataka Elections as a pre-poll alliance and the latter had bagged one seat.

The lone BSP MLA in Karnataka, N Mahesh, is all set to get a berth in the Kumaraswamy Cabinet. Mahesh who also heads the BSP state unit won the Kollegal seat by defeating his rival AR Krishna from Congress by a margin of 19,454 votes.

When the other JDS and Congress MLAs were holed up at a resort in Bengaluru, Mahesh was staying with senior BSP leader Ashok Siddharth at a guest house in Bengaluru and had allegedly rejected the offer to support the BJP.

Apart from Mayawati, Akhilesh and Kejriwal, others who are invited for the swearing-in ceremony include Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Chandrababu Naidu and Mamata Banerjee.

The rise of Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka may act as a platform to unite opposition parties, especially the regional parties to play a bigger role in the national arena during parliamentary elections in 2019.

Pakistan’s Punjab province government has released Rs 20 million to renovate a Krishna temple in Rawalpindi city and expand it to accommodate more Hindu worshippers on festivals and religious occasions, a media report said on Sunday.

Krishna temple is the only functioning Hindu temple in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. There are two prayers held at the temple every day one in the morning and one in the evening which are attended by six or seven people.

Mohammad Asif, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Deputy Administrator, said the government has released Rs 20 million to reconstruct the temple at the request of a Member of Provincial Assembly, Dawn reported.

He said reconstruction work would begin soon. A team has visited the site and pointed out a plan to start work. The main room where idols are kept will be sealed until reconstruction ends, the paper said. “Once reconstructed, the temple will be able to accommodate more people,” Asif was quoted as saying by the paper.

The official said the temple could accommodate the local Hindu community from the twin cities and nearby areas. The small temple was built by Kanji Mal and Ujagar Mal Ram Rachpal in 1897 to serve people in nearby areas. However, after Partition the street temple in Saddar became the only place of worship for Rawalpindi’s Hindus.

The temple was reopened after partition in 1949; it was operated by local Hindus before being handed over to the ETPB in 1970. Until the 1980s, even diplomats living in Islamabad visited the temple to pray. Local Hindus have said the temple’s area should be expanded.

Jag Mohan Arora said the temple courtyard, which can only accommodate 100 or so people, should be expanded, and shops next to the temple that the ETPB has leased to local traders should be retrieved to expand the front of the building. “At present the front of the temple is very small. The ETPB should vacate nearby shops that have been rented,” Arora said.