Bengaluru: HD Kumaraswamy, JD (S) leader made a u-turn on Monday September 7 by saying that the conditions he had set for having an alliance with the Congress in the BBMP council would be withdrawn.
He said that the part would not try for bargaining with regard to power-sharing in the Council anymore.
He added that he had put certain conditions for the Congress which was an independent decision. “I wanted the Congress to drop the Bengaluru restructuring bill, but the party’s stand was different. Now we have decided not to impose any conditions. The CM has to take the responsibility to see that things had to be set right,” he said.
He later said that if the Congress offered, the party would accept the post of the Deputy Mayor. A call on power-sharing module would be taken if the Congress felt benevolent enough to offer the post of Deputy Mayor and the party would not demand anything with regard to the standing committee posts, he added.
This was the first time that the JD(S) clarified its stand on the alliance with the Congress. Previously, as soon as the results were announced, the party used to assume contradictory stances which gave room to conspiracy theories.
However, national president HD Deve Gowda has said that they had not laid down any conditions. But Kumaraswamy has noted that he would not meet the Congress leaders until they issued a public statement that the proposed BBMP restructuring bill would be dropped.
Kumaraswamy informed that he had conveyed the party’s stand over the phone to state Congress president G Parameshwara and CM Siddaramaiah on Sunday September 6 and said that he might meet Parameshwara in a day or two.
He further said that the alliance with the Congress would be only in the BBMP, however, the JD(S) would not mind ruling the Council along for the next 5 years only on grounds that the Congress was willing to do the same.
He criticized the Congress and the BJP for branding the JD(S) an opportunist. He said that the national parties had misused his party to suit their convenience.
At present there are 3 candidates for the post of the Deputy Mayor in the JD (S) – MLA Gopalaiah’s wife S P Hemalatha from Vrushabhavathinagar, MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan’s candidates Umme Salma (Kushalnagar ward) and Nazima Khanam (KR Pet ward).
(Agencies)
