Bangalore: October 6, 2007 - Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his son Kumaraswamy are adamant to sever their promise at the end of 20 months of the JD(S)-led coalition.
Irrespective of the reasons advanced by H.D.Deve Gowda, how unreasonable it is that he being the Ex Prime Minister of India has no hesitation by dishonoring the word so easily which he had given to the BJP so seriously, it shall of course reduce the credibility of his personality to a great extent, perhaps would not be made up.
Deve Gowda had done the same thing in 1997 when as Prime Minister he insisted on facing Parliament after the Congress withdrew support before putting in his papers.
Mr. Deve met BJP chief Rajnath Singh late Friday night to deliver the final word on his party’s refusal to honor the promise to transfer power — at the end of 20 months of the JD(S)-led coalition.
Gowda told the BJP chief that his party should reconsider letting his son HD Kumaraswamy continue as Lok Sabha polls were imminent. This is a clear cut breach, which the BJP can infer and this party has already given an ultimatum of election by breaking their ties with them.
However, Rajnath told Gowda about the BJP parliamentary board’s decision that the transfer of power should take place and let YS Yediyurappa become Chief Minister, but nothing concrete has happened, nor likely to happen, since Mr. HD Deve Gowda wants his son to continue in power without any regard for his commitment. (IR Summary).
In a day that saw both sides reiterate their positions, Kumaraswamy got a Cabinet meeting to recommend summoning of the state assembly on October 18 to enable him face a trust vote, minus the BJP’s support.
Reaching Delhi, Gowda initially decided to meet the BJP chief on Saturday and went into a huddle for more than three hours with his son and JD(S) leaders, who make up the party’s political affairs committee.
Gowda’s meeting with Rajnath Singh took place at the North Avenue residence of industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandra shekhar.
Gowda told Singh that the Lok Sabha polls would be imminent because of the UPA-Left standoff on the nuclear issue. Earlier, Gowda got his party’s “authorization” to convey to the BJP chief “the feelings” of the partymen (against the transfer of power).
Kumaraswamy’s strategy to face the floor test was seen by the BJP leaders as a move to go to the polls as a martyr to deflect charges of breaking the pact for transferring power at the end of his tenure as Chief Minister for 20 months.
