Bengaluru: On a day when a stream of Janata Dal (S) intermediaries beat a path to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s door, the first clear signal that the JD(S) could be — officially — open to an alliance with arch-rival Congress came after the former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said “the BJP ruined the city during the last five years, the Congress is at the helm, it would be beneficial to the city, if we, the JD(S) supported it.”
He said that “officially, we have not received any communication. But, our party is open to an alliance with Congress. It is upto the Congress to decide,” and then added, “we have sent the corporators out of the city to avoid horse trading.”
However, with the corporators shepherded out of the city by both Congress and JD(S) MLAs, giving the lie to the first public comment by Mr Kumaraswamy that there had been no “communication,” between the two parties, all eyes were on the mega-wedding of Kannada superstar Shivrajkumar’s daughter Nirupama, where the chief minister was set to meet former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and shake on the deal. Except they arrived and left at separate times.
That key meeting could now happen after the BBMP mayor’s election date is announced, sources said, amid intense speculation that there could be an official meeting between JD(S) patriarch Mr H.D. Deve Gowda with Mr Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief Dr G. Parameshwar in a day or two, with the question being whether the Congress leaders would have agreed on the strategy and whether the CM will eat humble pie and accept the hand of friendship from his former patron, Mr Deve Gowda.
Mr Parameshwar has indicated he is unsure of the JD(S) intent and whether it will stay the course, and has expressed his reservations to the CM, with whom he held a closed-door meeting.
