Deve Gowda parting ways with Congress?
by N. Bhadran Nair

     New Delhi: The coalition government in Karnataka seems to be heading for trouble with the Janta Dal (S) peeved at the Congress decision to court rebel leader Siddharamaiah. Party chief H.D. Deve Gowda said that he would take a final decision after consulting his party executive in Bangalore early next month. The Congress high command had given a free hand to the state unit to align either with the Janta Dal (S) or its rival All India Progressive Janta Dal of former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during the zilla parishad elections.

    A section of the state Congress led by former Chief Minister S M Krishna was reportedly in favour of the party striking an alliance with Gowda's arch rival Siddaramaiah. Deve Gowda said he is in favour of going to the people, if the present arrangement with the Congress fails. "I told her (Sonia Gandhi) if there is any strain in our relationship, without going to the press, I will come to your house and I will tell this. Then we will part our company as friends," said Gowda. "I will come to 10 Janpath, I will convey the decision of my party before making it public because I made a promise when we have accepted this new arrangement to keep the communal forces, which was growing in Karnataka," he added. Sources in the JD(S) however indicated that the Devegowda was irked by the Congress's ambiguous stand and has made up his mind to part ways and convened a meeting of the national executive in Bangalore on the 7th of next month. He is expected to convey the outcome to the Congress Chief on the next day in New Delhi.

   Meanwhile the JD(S) Chief met senior BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee and discussed the prevailing political situation in the country. Though Gowda termed it as a courtesy call, the meeting assumes significance in the wake of his disenchantment with Congress in Karnataka. The JD(S) chief lost his cool when asked about his reaction to Biocon Chief Kiran Mazumdar Shah coming out in support of Infosys mentor N.R. Narayan Murthy in blaming politicians for the poor infrastructure in Bangalore. Gowda had earlier accused IT companies including Murthy's Infosys of grabbing land in the state and that zoning regulations were being changed to accommodate the request of Infosys to acquire 845 acres of land in Bangalore.

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