Date:20/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/20/stories/2006102011480400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Poojary warns against attempts to scuttle Siddaramaiah's boat

Special Correspondent

`Anyone who attempts to do so will be thrown out of the party'

B. Janardhana Poojary

BANGALORE: Senior Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary, MP, on Thursday warned that the party high command would expel anyone in the party who worked for the defeat of the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is the party's candidate for the coming byelection from Chamundeshwari constituency.

"Even leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge (State Congress president) and Dharam Singh (Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly) will be thrown out of the party if they indulge in activities that lead to the defeat of Mr. Siddaramaiah," he said.

Mr. Poojary said there was no one in the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Janata Dal (Secular) who could take on Mr. Siddaramaiah. "Let H.D. Deve Gowda (JD(S) national president) or B.S. Yediyurappa (Deputy Chief Minister) contest against Mr. Siddaramaiah; we will defeat them."

"The Government has been affected by dengue." That was reason for the law and order problem in Mangalore and Chikmagalur. The administrative machinery had collapsed and development works had come to a halt, he charged.

`Government will fall'

At a separate press conference, Mr. Dharam Singh claimed the coalition government would soon fall because of differences between the BJP and the JD(S). The Congress had not petitioned President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the imposition of President's rule in the State. "We are not fools to make such a demand." Dr. Kalam had been briefed about the political and economic developments in the State, Mr. Dharam Singh said.

There were severe differences of opinion between Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Mr. Yediyurappa on several issues, including the mode of inquiry into the violence in Mangalore and allowing Datta Jayanti celebrations at Bababudangiri in Chikmagalur district. State BJP president D.V. Sadananda Gowda wanted a judicial inquiry into the violence while Mr. Kumaraswamy had ordered an inquiry by the Corps of Detectives (CoD), he said.