Bengaluru: A day after the Janata Dal (Secular) announced that it would not join hands with either the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Congress in the coming elections to the state Assembly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on Friday all for secular forces joining hands to keep communal forces at bay. Speaking to reporters after the newly elected MLAs from Gundlupet and Nanjangud, Geetha Mahadev Prasad and Kalale Keshavamurthy took oath, he said this would in the interests of the country. “The meeting between Mr Nitish Kumar and Mrs Sonia Gandhi was a good development. The secular forces in the country are joining hands to counter the communal. This would be good in the state too,” he insisted.
Asked if he was ready to meet JD(S) supremo, Deve Gowda, Mr Siddaramaiah said he could meet him any time. “JD(S) cooperation helped us win in Gundlupet and Nanjangud and I have thanked Mr Gowda for that. Today we were to travel together for a function, but he could not make it. I will meet him personally to thank him,” he added. To a question on a possible cabinet shake-up, he said there would be no reshuffle but only an expansion.
“I am going to Delhi to meet Mrs Sonia Gandhi and discuss the cabinet expansion and nomination of three MLCs with her,” he revealed. As for the judgement on housing cooperatives, which has come down hard on the Housing Minister, Mr Siddaramaiah defended him saying he was not to blame and claimed some middlemen had played mischief. “The issue will become clear in days to come,” he assured.
