Congress downplays Kumaraswamy's threat, says all is well

Amid the growing strains in its ties with the JD-S, the Congress on Monday sought to play down Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamys threat to quit, saying issues are being resolved.

"I am ready to quit if my style of functioning is not acceptable to anyone. The Congress must control its MLAs and resolve the issues," an exasperated Kumaraswamy told the media in Bengaluru following criticism of his work by the Congress.

The Chief Minister's remarks came after two Congress ministers and a legislator on Sunday alleged here that no development works took place in the last seven-eight months under Kumaraswamy's administration and claimed that former Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was their leader and was a better administrator.

While Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal and in-charge of party affairs in the state asserted that the party high command has "full faith in Kumaraswamy", a party leader in Delhi claimed "all was well" within the coalition.

"In a coalition, there are and there will be issues. But our coalition is strong and whatever issues there are will be resolved. The leadership of both the parties are discussing and soon things will be amicably resolved," a Congress leader told IANS here.

A hung verdict in the May 2018 Assembly elections led the Congress with about 80 lawmakers support the JD-S with 37 legislators to form a coalition government after the BJP with 104 MLAs failed to prove a simple majority in the 225-member House.

--IANS

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