Operation Kamala was only a creation of some people to unsettle the coalition government, said former chief minister Siddaramaiah, in Bengaluru on Thursday, denying there was any threat to the government.
Siddaramaiah, who is the chairman of the Congress-JD(S) coordination committee, chose to downplay the alleged bid of the Bharatiya Janata Party to destabilise the government.
On Thursday, the coordination committee comprising Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal and JD(S) national general secretary Kunwar Danish Ali, met for the first time after the political turmoil that exposed the fissures within the Congress and also between the coalition partners.
The four MLAs—Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumatalli, Dr Umesh Jadhav and B. Nagendra—skipping the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting last week, had shaken the Congress leadership, which immediately herded the remaining 75 MLAs into a resort near Bengaluru to keep its flock together. But a drunken brawl between two Ballari legislators, Anand Singh and J.N. Ganesh, that landed Singh in hospital, ended up as an embarrassment for the party.Soon after the coordination committee meeting, Siddaramaiah, who is also the CLP leader, told reporters that, “Operation Kamala is long over. The political developments in the state is not as bad as depicted in the media. The coalition government is safe. Three out of four MLAs who had skipped the CLP meeting last week, have replied to the notice sent by us. Dr Umesh Jadhav is yet to reply to our notice. Nagendra has stated that he could not attend the meeting as he had to attend a case in the court. The legislators have clarified that they will not quit the party and will remain loyal to the party.”
When reporters asked whether the brawl between the two party MLAs had tarnished the party's image and pointed out that the suspended MLA J.N. Ganesh was absconding, Siddaramaiah lost his cool and in turn asked the reporters what was their perception on the incident. “This incident concerns our party only. What is your perception? It does not reflect poorly on the government. I am not defending him (Ganesh) or the fight between two MLAs. We have already taken up the issue and it is before a high-powered committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara. The party has initiated disciplinary action,” contended Siddaramaiah.
With the resentment among the Congress MLAs still posing a challenge, Siddaramaiah has been left to sort the pending issues like the appointment of his party MLAs to the boards and corporations and as parliamentary secretaries, which was kept in abeyance by the chief minister.
Meanwhile, the seat sharing between the allies remains a challenge as the JD(S) has been hard bargaining for 10-12 seats, especially the ones in Old Mysuru region. However, the Congress is eyeing the same constituencies as they do not want to disturb the sitting MPs.
"Within the next few days, a meeting will be held to discuss the seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls. The meeting will be held in the presence of former prime minister H.D. Devegowda," said Siddaramaiah.
After the BJP slammed the Congress for confining its legislators in a resort when the state was reeling under drought, the party decided to abandon its plan to shelter its MLAs further in the resort. While the BJP has formed teams to visit the drought-hit districts to take stock of the situation, the coalition government too has constituted four teams headed by ministers to visit and monitor the drought relief measures across the four administrative divisions of the state.
