Date:20/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/20/stories/2006052001770400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Janata Dal (S) announcement on alliance hasty, feels BJP

Alladi Jayasri

Party to make its stand known after coordination panel meets

BANGALORE: The State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is of the opinion that Janata Dal (Secular) national president H.D. Deve Gowda acted in haste in announcing that there would be no pre-election alliance with the BJP. State BJP president D.V. Sadananda Gowda has said that his party will go it alone if the JD(S) does not enter into an alliance.

The former MLA S. Suresh Kumar, who has been made a general secretary of the State unit, said the BJP would prefer to make its decision known after the JD(S)-BJP coordination committee met over the weekend or later. "We should be talking to each other, not at each other," Mr. Kumar told The Hindu .

According to him, there are two schools of thought within the party. One camp feels that the relationship in the Vidhana Soudha should be further cemented with a pre-election alliance, as the people have come to expect it, while the other thinks the two parties must make the most of their independent identities while going to the polls and come together after the elections.

The fact the party leadership put off choosing an organising general secretary, a crucial post in the party hierarchy, had raised many eyebrows. The incumbent, Vaman Acharya, who was made a vice-president, will continue until a new organising general secretary is chosen.

The party leadership is inclined towards appointing someone from the Sangh Parivar who will not be in electoral politics. In fact, Mr. Kumar said, the idea was to appoint a full-time organising general secretary, like Sanjay Joshi at the national level. The candidate would be chosen from within the State, and he would be an understudy to Dr. Acharya, who has held the post for long, he said. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi held the post at the national level until he was made Chief Minister.

Ends speculation

This effectively douses speculation that the appointment was put off for the time being in order to find a candidate who would not ruffle feathers in either camp — that of national party general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.