Karnataka government in trouble: Angry Deve Gowda attacks Congress, asks is this a way to run a coalition

JD(S) national president HD Deve Gowda, on Wednesday, said that he is pained by the manner in which the Karnataka government is running. While addressing party workers’ convention, Deve Gowda said that he had never made a critical remark about Congress rule in the previous five years (when Siddaramaiah was the CM), but some Congress MLAs often spoke in an accusatory tone against the CM.

“I am in pain, today six months have completed since Kumaraswamy became Chief Minister. All kinds of things have happened in these 6 months, till now I have not opened my mouth but I can’t keep quiet now,” he said.

This came days after Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he is ready to resign if the Congress party continues to take pot shot at him. "Yes, I had said I would step down if Congress leaders continue to take potshots at me. If they repeatedly make such statements, how many more days can I tolerate such stuff. Power is ephemeral. What is permanent is you (party workers) and six-and-a-half crore people of this state," he said addressing the National JDS Convention here.

The JD(S) patriarch attacked the Congress over their remarks on Karnataka CM, he said, “Is this any way to run a coalition government, where every day you have to request your coalition partner to not give unparliamentary remarks.”

"Things have already reached a final stage. Before the situation goes out of control, the Congress high command must intervene and impress upon their state leaders. I am seething with anger from within and watching the developments carefully,” the JD(S) patriarch said at the JD(S) Plenary Session held on Wednesday.

Deve Gowda also blamed his former protege Siddaramaiah for the tension between the coalition partners. “He (Siddaramaiah) has been nursing a grudge against us as he thinks I scuttled his chances of becoming CM on two occasions. Once, when I vacated the post after being chosen as PM candidate in 1996 and secondly when we formed a coalition government with Congress in 2004,” he said.