Bengaluru: In a sign that the coalition partners in the Congress-JD(S) were backing down, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy may be adopting a more conciliatory approach by saying in an interview to a TV channel that he has no intention of scrapping the popular schemes introduced by his Congress predecessor Siddaramaiah, signalling an end to the long drawn out feud over the presentation of a fresh budget by the CM on July 5.
There has been little love lost between the coalition partners in the past few weeks with Siddaramaiah criticizing the JD(S)-Congress coalition government and doubting its longevity in 'leaked' videos which left both coalition partners deeply embarrassed. Interestingly, Mr Siddaramaiah has since expressed his anger at the videos being taken out of context. Now, he and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy seem to have decided to bury the hatchet in the larger interests of the coalition government. And more so when the all powerful co-ordination committee of the coalition is set to meet on Sunday to discuss the contours of the budget and the common minimum programme.
The Chief Minister and Mr Siddaramaiah will come face to face at this meeting and going by the placatory moves by both sides, not much of fireworks can be expected.
Sources said Mr Siddaramaiah even tried to assuage the feelings of the Janata Dal (Secular) while expressing displeasure over the recording of his private, informal session with fellow politicians and its telecast on TV channels.
He said leaking the videos was unfair, adding that this was not a serious expression of his views and one should not read too much into it.
He was upset that the media had reportedly projected him as a 'villian' who was planning to bring down the government. He reportedly told his party leaders that he was very much for the continuation of the coalition government.
