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Karnataka election: JDS' Kumaraswamy open to BJP, Cong deal. What are his terms?
“I am still confident of winning 50 seats. This time, I will go with the party that agrees to fulfill my conditions,” Kumaraswamy said.
Janata Dal (Secular) supremo and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy hinted at a post-poll alliance after several exit polls predicted a hung assembly in the state. Mentioning that he is confident of winning at least 50 seats, the leader said that his party would strike a coalition with the political party that “agrees to fulfill his conditions.”
“I am still confident of winning 50 seats. This time, I will go with the party that agrees to fulfill my conditions,” Kumaraswamy told Deccan Herald. Kumaraswamy's conditions seem to rise up from the problems he faced under coalition governments earlier.
Conditions put out by the leader for a coalition with any political party:
- Kumaraswamy demanded that as the chief minister, he should have a free hand to run the government.
- The leader further wants JD(S) lawmakers to get major portfolios like public works, and water resources.
- The leader also wants his coalition partner to allow him to implement promises made in the JD(S) manifesto.
- Kumaraswamy also rejected the idea of the coalition coordination committee, a mechanism that was set up in 2018 when he joined hands with the Congress party. The coalition coordination committee oversees the functioning of the coalition government.
- He also wanted no ideology-related decision to be made without discussion.
- Kumaraswamy also hoped that the party's coalition partner would not intervene in matters of Mandya-Hassan territories, which belong to the JD(S).
Meanwhile, both Congress and the BJP had earlier claimed that they wouldn't strike a post-poll alliance with the JD(S).
However, it is hoped that JD(S) national president HD Deve Gowda would take a final call on matters related to the formation of the coalition as far as the party is concerned.
