Bengaluru: Janata Dal (Secular) legislators are seething with anger against the Congress for not allowing the new coalition government headed by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to have its Cabinet. They are also unhappy with party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda for readily accepting unconditional support from the Congress without sparing time to discuss this with senior leaders.
"We are disgusted with the drama being enacted by the Congress in the last one week. Let them say clearly whether they wanted to be a part of this coalition government so that JD(S) can work out its course of action. We can't see Mr Kumaraswamy being humiliated by Congress leaders", a few JD(S) lawmakers told Deccan Chronicle on the condition of anonymity. A former minister and JD(S) legislator from north Karnataka felt the first mistake committed by his party was accepting Congress support without discussing it in the party core committee meeting. History has proved how the Congress had deceived several regional parties including the JD(S), but they have not learnt any lesson from it. The Congress wants to remain in power with the help of JD(S) to defeat the BJP's claim of 'Congress mukt Karnataka' which is why it has extended unconditional support to Mr Kumaraswamy'. During elections, JD(S) workers had worked hard to defeat Congress candidates in their respective constituencies and now, ironically, leaders of both parties have agreed to form a coalition government. One thing is sure- the Congress will exploit the JD(S) till the next Lok Sabha polls and then dump the party, the JD(S) leader claimed.
He felt that if the Congress was true to its promise, it should have extended unconditional support without fighting for portfolios and should not have floated a new theory on sharing power for 30:30 months. Putting one condition one after the other in the last one week is irritating with people disgusted with this 'nataka' being enacted by the Congress, said the JD(S) leader.
