HDK withdraws conditions for tie-up with Cong in BBMP

Bengaluru, Sep 8: JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Monday made a complete U-turn by withdrawing the conditions he had set for forging an alliance with the Congress in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike Council.

“I had put certain conditions for the Congress, which was an independent decision.

I wanted the Congress to drop the Bengaluru restructuring bill. The party’s stand, however, was different. We have now taken an unanimous decision not to impose any conditions. The chief minister should take responsibility and set right the wrongs that have hampered the City’s development,” he said.

He said the party would accept the deputy mayor’s post if the Congress offered it. “The JD (S) City MLAs will take a call on the power-sharing module if the Congress feels benevolent enough to offer us the deputy mayor’s post,” he said. The party would not make demands with regard to the standing committee posts, too.

This is the first time the JD(S) has clarified its stand on the alliance with the Congress. For, ever since the election results were announced, the party had been assuming contradictory stances, giving room for many conspiracy theories.

No conditions: Deve Gowda

While the party national president H D Deve Gowda maintained that he had not laid down any conditions, Kumaraswamy had said that he would not meet the Congress leaders until they issued a public statement stating that they would drop the proposed BBMP restructuring bill.

Kumaraswamy said he had spoken to the State Congress president G Parameshwara and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the phone on Sunday and conveyed the party’s stand. He might even meet Parameshwara in a day or two, he said.

Maintaining that the alliance with the Congress was restricted only to the BBMP, Kumaraswamy said the JD(S) would not mind ruling the Council along for the next five years, provided the Congress was willing to do the same.

He attacked both the Congress and the BJP for branding the JD(S) an opportunist. The national parties have “misused” his party to suit their convenience, he charged.

There are three frontrunners for the deputy mayor’s post in the JD (S) - MLA Gopalaiah’s wife S P Hemalatha who has been elected from Vrushabhavathinagar; MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan’s candidates Umme Salma (Kushalnagar ward) and Nazima Khanam (KR Pet ward).

The corporators, presently in Kerala, will be brought back to Bengaluru just before the mayoral election on September 11.