K'taka govt to convene session on Oct 18

Bangalore, Oct 5: In a new twist to the ongoing power struggle between coalition partners Janata Dal (S) and the Bharatiya Janata party in Karnataka, the State Cabinet today decided to convene the session of both the houses of legislature.

Briefing newsmen on the cabinet meeting, State Primary Education Minister Basavaraj Horahatti said that the session would issue various pending issues, without mentioning that it would be a sort of trial of strength of the Kumaraswamy led government.

None of the BJP ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa were present at the cabinet meeting convened hurriedly yesterday.

When asked whether the session would be for only a day or spread over few days, Mr Horahatti said that the duration would be decided during the session. He said Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy would meet Governor Rameshwar Thakur and recommend convening of the session. Reacting to the cabinet decision, Mr Yediyurappa told newsmen that the next course of action would be decided by the central leadership of the party which would meet tomorrow in New Delhi. The Parliamentary Board of the party which met yesterday deferred the decision as it awaited the decision of JD(S) Political Affairs Committee, which is meeting at the nation's capital today.

Declined to comment on the decision of the cabinet meeting, all that Mr Yediyurappa said that he had conveyed the cabinet decision to the central leadership.

Replying to a question Mr Yediyurappa however said that there was no change in the party's stand on transfer of power. The BJP ministers have tendered their resignations to Mr Kumaraswamy to pave way for the transfer of power as planned 20 months ago under an agreement between the two parties.

Blowing hot and cold over the BJP, Mr Kumaraswamy at the Party executive meeting yesterday categorically stated that providing power to the BJP would put the safety of minorities and dalits in peril and said any power shift could take place only after the BJP gave certain clarifications in its communal credentials.

UNI