Difficult times ahead, but need to keep communal forces away from power: Param

Bengaluru, May 21: As the stage is set for JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy to become the next chief minister of Karnataka, KPCC president G Parameshwara on Monday said difficult times were ahead, but there was a need to stop the BJP from coming to power in the southern state.

He said he understood the sentiments of many who were averse to a tie-up between the Congress and JD(S).

However, the need to keep communal forces away from power made the Congress lend support to JD(S), Parameshwara said.

"I do understand the sentiments of many people that we should not have gone with the JD(S). But there was a need to stop the BJP from coming to power again in Karnataka. Keeping this in mind, our seniors took a decision to support the JD(S). We all must accept their decision," he said.

"We may see difficult times ahead. We are visualising the challenges ahead, but we need to bear all the hardship to build a strong party," the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief said.

He was speaking at a meeting at the state Congress office to pay tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 27th death anniversary.

Parameshwara said his party failed to get a clear majority in the Karnataka Assembly elections for various reasons, and that it has accepted the people's verdict.

However, sensing the "dangerous fallout" of the BJP coming to power, he said the party high command has decided to form a coalition government with the JD(S).

"There are no selfish motives (behind forming the coalition government). No personal gains. There are no motives to see the Congress coming to power somehow. Our only objective is to keep at bay those instigating communal passions and disturbing social harmony," he said.

"We have already seen them from 2008 to 2013...how they ran the administration in the state," he said with an apparent reference to the BJP rule in the state during that time.

The Congress state president said party workers should get ready to face the hardship in the coming days as parliamentary elections are just a year away.

"We should not be disheartened and sit at home after the assembly election results. We have to gear up afresh to face 'those forces' and continue our struggle against them," Parameshwara added.

Kumaraswamy will take oath as the chief minister of Karnataka on May 23 in Bangaluru.

The Congress, which has offered the chief minister's post to H D Kumaraswamy, is likely to have its deputy chief minister and G Parmeshwara is among the frontrunners.