Bangalore, May 14: Congress today sent out feelers to Janata Dal(S) to forge a coalition with it for forming a secular government in Karnataka which has thrown up a hung assembly. "I have sent the feelers but I still have to meet senior leaders here. We are trying to forge an alliance with JD(S),” senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh, in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, told reporters here today.


Asked what kind of talks were on with the JD(S), he said he was yet to initiate the talks but was hopeful that both the parties would be in a position to form a secular government.

To a question whether Congress was ready to sit in opposition and support a JD(S) government, he said, "All options are open at this point of time. Just to keep communal forces out of power, time demands that JD(S) and Congress should come together.”

The Congress leader said that the party would have to do introspection to know what went wrong. "I am meeting some senior leaders is sure that whatever we were expecting from Karnataka, we could not get that much result.”
In the 224-member house, Congress has got 65 seats and JD(S) secured 58. The BJP has 79 seats.

Bureau Report