Some JD(S) MLAs in Favour of External Support to BJP, Kumaraswamy to Decide Now

JD(S) MLA and former minister G T Devegowda confirmed the update but added that the former chief minister himself will take the final decision.

New Delhi: Days after the Congress-JD(S) coalition government fell in Karnataka and HD Kumaraswamy made way for BS Yediyurappa to be the next Chief Minister, it has surfaced that some party legislators have impressed upon the former to extend external support to the BJP government.

JD(S) MLA and former minister G T Devegowda confirmed the update but added that the former chief minister himself will take the final decision.

Reportedly, the difference of opinion among the legislators surfaced in a meeting convened by Kumaraswamy on Friday night to decide the party’s future course of action in the wake of upheavals in Karnataka politics.

After the meeting, Devegowda said, “We (MLAs) discussed the future course of action. Some have suggested that we should sit in opposition, while some legislators are of the opinion that we should support the BJP from outside. We have authorised Kumaraswamy to take the final decision.”

The development came on Friday, the day BJP leader B S Yediyurappa was sworn in as chief minister for a fourth time in a sudden twist to the protracted high political drama in the state with a big challenge to manage numbers staring him in the face.

Shortly after taking the oath, Yediyurappa said that he would move a motion of confidence in the Assembly on July 29, to prove his majority.

Amid speculations about BJP and JD(S) joining hands, Yediyurappa had recently ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the regional party, having bitter experience in the past.

The BJP and JD(S) had formed a coalition government in 2006 with Kumaraswamy as chief minister and Yediyurappa as his deputy, under a power-sharing formula of 20 months each. That government had collapsed as the JD(S) did not transfer power to BJP, paving the way for the saffron party to win elections in 2008.

With PTI inputs