Venkaiah Naidu hopes smooth transition of power

Bangalore, Aug 18 (UNI) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Leader Venkaiah Naidu today exuded confidence that there will be a smooth transition of power from the coalition partner Janata Dal (S) to his party on October three in Karnataka.

Referring to Leader of the Opposition N Dharam Singh's statement that the BJP would not come to power and the state would witness either a Congress-JD(S) coalition government or President's rule, he told newspersons here that ''it shows the height of arrogance and hunger for power'' of the Congress.

While referring to the differences within the party on having truck with the JD(S) again, he said ''they will be greatly disappointed'' and added ''let him (Mr Dharam Singh) take care of his own MLAs who were grumbling in the gullies and campaigning in Delhi.'' He was confident that the JD(S) would follow the ''political dharma'' and abide by the agreement.

He said there was no need for the Central leadership of the party to intervene in the state as the local leaders themselves were handling the partnership effectively.

Asked about the difference within the coalition partners in the state, he dismissed it saying ''it's all only media reports.'' He said Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa was not in panic and was doing his job seriously.

Mr Naidu was here in connection with the BJP National programme to form booth-level BJP teams to prepare for the next Lok Sabha elections. Booth-level meetings were scheduled for tomorrow all over the state.

UNI