Krishna-Gowda feud makes Cong high command nervous

Relations between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), the two allies in Karnataka's ruling coalition, hit a low this week with the ongoing war of words involving former Congress Chief Minister SM Krishna, Janata Dal President HD Deve Gowda and Congress state party chief Janardhan Poojary reaching a crescendo.

Sources close to Vayalar Ravi, the Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka, said the party was considering taking a stand in the quarrel that had broken out between Krishna and Deve Gowda.

Last week, the former Prime Minister and seniormost leader of the Janata Dal (S) launched a bitter attack against Krishna, accusing him of complicity in various acts of omission and commission, including corruption, committed by the former JH Patel-led government in the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.

The project included massive leasing of government and private land to business houses engaged in building a road link, which would reduce travelling time between Bangalore and Mysore to 75 minutes. Deve Gowda said the JH Patel and Krishna governments were guilty of irregularities that led to the formation of a cartel of land sharks.

Gowda has also reportedly submitted a 29-page report to the present Karnataka Chief Minister, Dharam Singh, seeking a CBI investigation into the activities of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) since 1999.

Krishna had been chief minister for a part of this period and held charge of the authority for most of his tenure. Gowda has specifically criticised the ministry of urban development and the BDA.

In reply, Krishna wrote a letter to the chief minister in which he sought the shelving of the BMIC project and the return of all the land bought for the project. In this letter, Krishna said the JH Patel government was responsible for the irregularities in the project.

Deve Gowda and Krishna have been at loggerheads since before the Assembly elections were held in the state. And at the middle of the tussle between the two is former minister and Krishna aide DK Shivakumar, widely seen as Krishna's most trusted troubleshooter.

It is no coincidence that Shivkumar, also a Vokkaliga like Deve Gowda and a contender for the top slot, was in charge of urban development during the later part of Krishna's chief ministership. It is urban development projects undertaken by the Krishna government that Gowda has chosen to target.

The Congress-Janata Dal (S) clash in Karnataka is essentially a tussle for leadership. The man in the middle, Dharam Singh, is trying to run the government under pressure from both sides.

So far, he has sided with Krishna. But with the Congress' dependence on the Janata Dal (S) "" the Congress has 65 MLAs in a 224-member House and the Janata Dal (S) has 58 "" it is hard for either party to let go of the other.

However, the Congress high command is concerned over the message the public wrangling between the allies is sending out. Poojary has already criticised Deve Gowda for trying to tarnish the Congress's image so that the Janata Dal can form the government by cutting the Congress out.