JD(S) unlikely to support UPA in trust vote

Hitting hard at Congress for "humiliating and torturing" to JD (S), former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday dropped enough hints that his three-member party in the Lok Sabha will not support the UPA government during the confidence vote.

"Both Congress and BJP have made all out efforts to destroy JD(S). We have suffered humiliation and torture and faced fabricated and false charges," he told PTI in New Delhi.

Expressing unhappiness over its attitude, Gowda said despite giving support to a secular party like Congress, "we have been abused and unparliamentary language has been used against us".

Gowda accused both Congress and BJP of "playing dirty politics to demolish JD(S)".

"These are the things that will be dealt carefully at a meeting of senior party leaders in Bangalore before taking a final decision on the side my party will take during the vote of confidence next week," he said.
However, going by the mood in the party, it appeared that Gowda and another MP from Karnataka may vote against the government, while rebel MP M P Veerendra Kumar has already announced that he will vote against the government.

Asked specifically about the stand his party will take during voting, Gowda simply said that a decision would be taken only after consulting senior leaders.

"I am saddened and deeply hurt by the developments in national politics over the past few days," he said, adding that the "corporate world" was playing a "vital role" in deciding the political future of the country, an obvious reference to Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani's meetings with the prime minister and senior bureaucrats.