No coalition with BJP, Cong: Kumaraswamy

“There are three options before us — one, to ally with the Congress again and get kicked; second, to revive ties with BJP and get kicked; third, go before the people. If they bless us it is okay, but even if they kick us, we will accept. I prefer the last option,” he said.

Kumaraswamy admitted that the BJP and the Congress were making attempts to form a Government to fill the vacuum left behind by his resignation and subsequent imposition of President’s Rule. He said the JD(S) would hold a two-day meeting of its legislature party from October 15 to devise a strategy to keep the BJP and the Congress from preying on his MLAs.

The former CM blamed divisions within the BJP and indifference to its chief ministerial candidate B S Yediyurappa as reasons for the failure of power transfer from the JD(S) to the BJP as was scheduled at the end of his 20-month tenure. “I am ready for a public debate with BJP leaders on the power transfer issue. I have not betrayed that party,” Kumaraswamy said, referring to the statewide ‘punish the betrayers’ campaign kicked off by the BJP since the power transfer fell through this week.

Kumaraswamy said BJP central leaders conspired to block the power transfer to show him up as an anti-Lingayat. He claimed that Yashwant Sinha did not discuss the power transfer issue with his father, but sought JD(S) support for the NDA and L K Advani’s candidature for PM.

Incidentally, when the power transfer issue was raging, sources had said that Gowda had made the offer to support the NDA in case of a general election in return for Kumaraswamy’s continuance as Chief Minister.