Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda on Tuesday said the perceived 'political crisis' in Karnataka was a just media hype.
He also downplayed the importance of two independent leaders withdrawing support from the Congress-JDS government led by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who happens to be his son.
Speaking to ANI, Deve Gowda said: "The two leaders are not affiliated with any party. They are independents. There is no need to hype it up so much. It is the media who wants to play a certain role. It is all a media hype."
He said that the Congress had decided to fill up the vacancies of six ministers, board and corporation members and political secretaries in the state and were unable to accommodate a few people including the two independent legislators.
The former Prime Minister further said the BJP's move to camp all their elected legislators in a Gurgaon hotel in Haryana highlights their sense of insecurity and their inability to "keep all 104 legislators together."
"JDS members are all here. We are not going to shift them. They are in their own villages. Even the Congress leaders have not gone anywhere. Kumaraswamy has also contacted two independent leaders. They said they are not joining the BJP. They have made it amply clear," Deve Gowda said.
Expressing confidence that the Congress-JDS alliance government will last its full five-year term, Deve Gowda dismissed rumours that lawmakers from the coalition government may join the BJP. "Who will go? Who can trust Yeddyurappa firstly," he asked.
Earlier in the day, two Independent leaders -- H Nagesh and R Shankar -- withdrew their support to the JDS-Congress government.
In the 224-member Assembly, JDS has 37 lawmakers while the Congress has 80. The coalition has the support of a few Independent legislators in the House, where the majority figure is 113.
Chief Minister Kumaraswamy was unfazed by the development, saying he is "totally relaxed."
"If two leaders withdraw their support, what will be the numbers? I am totally relaxed. I know my strength. Whatever has been going on in the media for a week, I am enjoying," he told the reporters.
The Congress has alleged that three of its leaders were taken to Mumbai by the BJP in a bid to lure them to their fold.
The BJP, while dismissing these claims, has alleged poaching attempts by the Congress. The BJP has housed all its 104 leaders in a hotel in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, because of the fear of the alleged poaching.
