JDS offered support, but Congress insisted on Kumaraswamy as Karnataka CM: Deve Gowda

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Bengaluru: Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda said on Monday that the Congress had insisted on HD Kumaraswamy becoming the CM of Karnataka. He clarified that he had offered to support a Congress-led government in Karnataka after the fractured verdict in the Assembly polls.

"There was a discussion between me, Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashok Gehlot. I told them, you form (the government), I have no problem. They insisted that Kumaraswamy become the CM and that it was their high command's decision," the former PM said at a press conference.

He also indicated it would be difficult to keep the promise of relief to farmers. "How? With 37 members (MLAs of the JD-S), we have to run the government with the support of another party. We will also have to continue with their programmes. Without their support it is difficult. That is why he (Kumaraswamy) said I will give resignation if need be. He was under Congress' will and not under the will of 6.5 crore people. He has called himself a child of circumstances," Gowda said, as per PTI.

Kumaraswamy had promised to write off farm loans totalling Rs 53,000 crore within 24 hours of coming to power, but has now sought time citing coalition compulsions and the need to assess the financial condition of the state. He had said on Sunday that said he was at the "mercy" of the Congress and not the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka as his party had not received the full mandate which it had sought.

JD(S), who had fought bitterly against the Congress, especially in old Mysuru region, had to join hands to keep BJP out of power in Karnataka, where the May 12 polls threw up a hung Assembly. 

Kumaraswamy was on May 23, 2018, sworn-in as Karnataka CM at a grand ceremony in ​Bengaluru attended by a galaxy of top leaders and regional satraps. G Parameshwara, the state Congress chief and the party's Dalit face, was sworn in as his deputy.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, and Pinarayi Vijayan, her counterparts in Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala respectively, were present on the occasion. Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, BSP chief Mayawati and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and socialist leader Sharad Yadav were also in attendance.

(With Agency inputs)