The Hindu : Karnataka News : Congress is a divided house: JD(S)

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 02, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Congress is a divided house: JD(S)

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MAY 1. The State Janata Dal (S) leadership is watching with glee the embarrassment in Congress circles caused by the statement of the Congress Working Committee member, Ghulam Nabi Azad, that the Congress will consider an alliance with the Janata Dal (S) in case no party secures a majority in the next Assembly.

The Working President of the Janata Dal (S) State unit, B.R. Patil, has said that the Congress is a divided house, going by the statements of Mr. Azad and the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, over the party's performance in the Assembly elections. Mr. Krishna has stated that the Congress is in a comfortable position and the party will form the next Government on its own.

Mr. Patil, who did not spell out whether the Janata Dal (S) was inclined to join hands with the Congress in forming the next Government in the State, told presspersons here today that the Janata Dal (S) was in a comfortable position and would form the next Government. "Irrespective of the numbers, we have worked out a strategy and will take the lead in forming the Government. I am confident that the next Government here will be a Janata Dal (S) or a Janata Dal (S)-led Government."

He maintained that Mr. Azad's statement had exposed the misinformation fed by the State Congress leaders to the party High Command. Since Mr. Azad was earlier the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in charge of Karnataka, he had access to information from a cross-section of the people.

Mr. Patil said Mr. Azad had "admitted the truth" unlike the Chief Minister. "There is no coordination among the Congress leaders, and the AICC has been fed with false information all these days. It will all be exposed in the days to come."

Mr. Patil submitted a memorandum to the Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi, urging him to direct the Chief Secretary to immediately resume drought relief measures. "It will take another month for the new Government to settle down and it will be too late by the time it begins drought relief works. It will also take two more months for the monsoon to set in and for farmers to start their agricultural activities."

He charged that the drought relief works undertaken by the Congress Government over the past two years were shoddy, and the funds earmarked for the programme had been largely misappropriated. Further, even the foodgrains set apart for the food for work programme with the support of the Union Government had not reached the people. There were complaints that the authorities in charge of the programme had diverted the foodgrains to the market, he said.

In most of the drought-hit districts, people were selling their cattle to slaughterhouses. There was an urgent need to open goshalas. Farmers who wanted to personally take care of their cattle should be provided fodder free of cost, he said.

Drinking water should be supplied to all the drought-prone villages by rail or road. No purpose would be served by drilling borewells as the groundwater had either been depleted or exhausted. People in several parts of the State, particularly from Gulbarga, Raichur, Bijapur and Bidar districts, had migrated to Mumbai and Pune in search of employment.

This was one of the reasons for the low turnout for voting in the Hyderabad Karnataka districts, Mr. Patil said.

On Friday, the State Janata Dal (S) President, Siddaramaiah, had ruled out his party supporting the Congress. He had said that the question would not arise at all as the Janata Dal (S) was confident of coming to power in the State.

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