Kumaraswamy to negotiate as JD(S) inches closer to UPA

With Third Front rendered a non-entity by election results,the JD-S,a key player in the front,is going the whole hog in its attempt to join UPA.

With the Third Front rendered a non-entity by the election results,the Janata Dal Secular,a key player in the front,is going the whole hog in its attempt to join the Congress-led UPA.

JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy has been given the go-ahead by his father,party president H D Devegowda,to accept an invitation by AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad to visit Delhi. Party sources revealed that he was going to be camping in the capital for a few days to finalise an arrangement with the UPA. Kumaraswamy had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and a day prior to the final round of polls on May 13. The ground for the understanding has already been laid by the JD (S)s tacit support to the Congress in several constituencies in Karnataka.

The growing bonhomie between the Congress and the JDS was marked by a telephone call by the UPAs prime minister designate Manmohan Singh to former prime minister H D Devegowda on the occasion of the latters birthday on Monday.

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Gowda who has been indisposed for some time has not reacted publicly to the election verdict. He made a brief TV appearance on May 13 to clear the air over Kumaraswamys second meeting with Sonia Gandhi and to clarify that the JDS was still with the Third Front.

With the Third Front not in existence now what is wrong in the JDS joining the UPA? Partners who were in the Third Front have been informed of the necessity to fight the BJP in Karnataka, said senior JDS leader M C Nanaiah.

Kumaraswamy is expected to negotiate for a ministerial berth in the UPA government. There is speculation that the JDS will seek a ministry like Environment and Forests in an effort to control iron-ore mining and alleged forest encroachments by BJP-affiliated MLAs with whom the Gowda family has had a running dispute.

We are not in a position to bargain for any post. We will have to accept what is given to us so there is no question of seeking any portfolio. The only precondition will be to ensure joint efforts to fight the growth of the BJP and its politics, a JDS insider said indicating a possible long-term understanding between the JDS and the Congress and an increasing polarisation in the states politics.