There are reports that many Congressmen in Karnataka would bid goodbye to the party and join the BJP. With a view to offset this, Deve Gowda is mulling plans to offer the chief minister’s post to either senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge or former CM Siddaramaiah. By doing so, he hopes to keep the Congress flock together
Bengaluru: Not for nothing is the JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda considered to be a political Chanakya. In the evening of his life, he goes to any extent to ensure his desires are met.
Faced by a probable mass resignation of Congress MLAs in Karnataka after the Lok Sabah results are announced on May 23, former Prime Minister Gowda has devised a number of plans to assuage fraying tempers and making sure the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state stays afloat.
As per sources, Gowda is considering asking his son HD Kumaraswamy to step down as chief minister. By doing so, Gowda will be giving his son a breather as his health is certainly not good. And he is mulling to ask either Siddaramaiah or Mallikarjun Kharge to substitute his son, with his elder son Revanna being made the deputy chief minister.
But why does Gowda prefer Siddaramaiah or Kharge and not someone like incumbent deputy chief minister G Parameshwara? Well, in the event of Parameshwara ascending the chief minister’s throne, sources say Siddaramaiah will be unhappy and he himself might work towards debilitation of the coalition. It’s no secret that Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah are not the best of friends.
So if a veteran like Kharge is given the reins, Gowda feels that he will be doing the Dalit community a huge favour. On the other hand, if Siddaramaiah is made the chief minister, Gowda will make up for the allegations that he once stymied the chances of Siddaramaiah becoming the chief minister. in simple words, it is hitting two birds with a single stone.
But the BJP is circumspect.
“We are not interested in destabilising the coalition. There are a lot of fissures in the coalition. They are extremely dissatisfied. Many of them want to quit as they see the writing on the wall. This will lead to instability among them. Because of this, Deve Gowda is thinking if he wants to offer the CM’s post to the Congress. Based on his statement, we can be doubly sure that there are a lot of internal fights. So the situation is pretty fluid. We do not know if it will hold till May 23,” says Shreenath Sheshadri, BJP spokesperson.
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