Break ties with BJP: Sindhia tells Kumaraswamy

Bangalore, May 9: Senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Minister P G R Sindhia today demanded Karantaka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to sever ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and build the party as a strong alternative political force in the state.

Addressing newspersons here, he said that by joining hands with the BJP against the principles of the JD(S), he had not only hurted the feelings of former Prime Minister and party President H D Deve Gowda, but also lakhs of party workers at the grassroots level.

Exuding confidence in the leadership of Mr Gowda, the disgruntled JD(S) leader demanded Mr Kumaraswamy to rethink his decision to align with the BJP and come out of the coalition Government. Running a coalition Government was not an easy task and Mr Kumaraswamy was found helpless in expanding his Ministry and naming Legislators for the posts of chairmen to various boards and corporations. Mr Kumaraswamy was under tremendous pressure from the BJP and found himself in a sorry state of affairs, he claimed.

Mr Sindhia said that during the last two months, he had toured over 15 districts in the State and met party workers who had overwhelmingly supported his known stand of opposing communal forces and aligning with the BJP to share power.

He said his party was able to win over 58 Assembly seats in the last elections only because the JD(S) and the JD(U) came together.

Ultimately, the JD(S) formed a Government with the Congress as the mandate was against the communal forces and in favour of secular parties.

Recalling the 2001 Kanakapura Lok Sabha bypoll results in which Mr Gowda had won against strong opponents of the Congress and BJP, he claimed that at the grassroots level, people were in favour of secular and progressive thinking parties.

UNI