BSY accepts demand, Deve Gowda says no permanent enemy in politics

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Nov 08, 2019 : In what is seen as a sign that the ruling BJP and opposition Janata Dal (Secular) are warming up to each other in Karnataka, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday accepted JD(S) leader and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s request to transfer a police officer in Yadgir region of north Karnataka, while the latter asserted that Yediyurappa is “not our enemy”, Yahoo reported.

 

Yediyurappa, who is reported to have spoken on the telephone with Gowda, however, denied receiving an offer of support for BJP in case the ruling party fails to win sufficient seats in by-elections to the constituencies of rebel Congress-JD(S) legislators. The by-elections are due next month.

“There has been no offer of support from JD(S) to BJP,’’ Yediyurappa said.

On the issue of transfer of the police official, who was accused by JD(S) of assaulting party workers during a protest last month, Yediyurappa said, “The sub-inspector has been transferred.”

Deve Gowda welcomed the decision, and Yediyurappa did not address the issue for several days possibly since he was not aware of a letter from him.

Why the sudden ‘overtures’

The development comes at a time of political speculation in Karnataka that JD(S) will lend support of its 34 MLAs to the BJP’s 105 in the 224-member House in case the saffron party fails to win a majority of 17 Assembly seats where bypolls are due next month. JD(S)’s apparent move to come closer to BJP is seen as an attempt to thwart defections of its own MLAs to the ruling combination, as well as to counter CBI investigations launched by the government into cases of illegal phone-tapping and a Ponzi scheme related to the time Kumaraswamy was the CM.

Stating that Yediyurappa is “not our enemy”, the JD(S) chief told the media, “Anything can happen in politics - there are no permanent friends and enemies in politics. I have had difference even with Siddaramaiah (Congress leader) but allied with him on a common platform. Siddaramaiah and Yediyurappa are not our permanent enemies. I need to interact with him (Yediyurappa) because he is the Chief Minister.”

Last month, former CM and Deve Gowda’s son H D Kumaraswamy had indicated that he was not inclined to toppling the BJP government on account of the need to provide relief to regions of northern Karnakata that were hit by floods in August.

Gowda had earlier threatened to protest in front of Yediyurappa’s residence against the government’s “high-handedness”, a reference to the recent police action against JD(S) workers in Yadgir.

Yediyurappa said, according to PTI, “Already the police officer there has been transferred and has been asked to go on leave. I will convince Gowda...whatever he says I will take action accordingly.”

State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said, according to PTI, “With whom they [JD (S)]will become friends or enemy, we cannot say.... Ideologically they don’t have a strong secular stand or any principle.”