Karnataka government safe, stable: Deputy CM

The year-old JD-S-Congress combine government was safe and stable to continue in office despite electoral reverses in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, said Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara on Friday.

"There is no threat to our government. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD-S will continue to lead us as all legislators of the allies are together to prevent any toppling bid by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)," he told reporters here after an informal cabinet meeting.

Though Kumaraswamy was present on the occasion, he didn't address the media and instead asked Parameshwara to clarify the longevity of his fledgling government amid the BJP's clamour for his resignation owning moral responsibility for their humiliating defeat at the hustings.

In the elections, the BJP has won 25 of the 28 parliamentary seats in the state, the Janata Dal-Secular and the Congress one seat each and Independent Sumalatha Ambareesh, who was backed by the BJP, secured one seat.

"The mandate in the general elections is for a new government at the Centre and not in the state. Its results are not a referendum on our government," said Parameshwara.

The allies fielded joint candidates in all the 28 parliamentary constituencies in the state as part of their pre-poll seat-sharing arrangement, with the Congress contesting 21 seats and the JD-S seven.

The Congress lost 20 seats and the JD-S six in the two-phase elections held on April 18 and April 23.

"We will complete the remaining four-year term under Kumaraswamy's leadership as we had committed when we joined hands and staked claim to form the coalition government a year ago," said Parameshwara.

The Chief Minister's Office in a statement later said the election results were discussed and analysed in the cabinet meeting at Kumaraswamy's official residence. "The cabinet opined that the poll verdict is the mandate to form a new Union government in New Delhi and not for the state government here," said the statement.

As the May 2018 Assembly elections threw up a hung House, the allies formed a post-poll alliance to keep the BJP out of power. "We won't let the opposition (BJP) bring us down from power. We will give the governance that meets our people's aspirations and complete the remaining four-year term in 2022," said the Deputy Chief Minister.

"There is no threat to my government. We will complete the remaining of our four-year term till 2022," tweeted Congress legislative party leader Siddaramaiah in Kannada.

The BJP, however, rejected the charge that it was trying to topple the coalition government in the aftermath of the Lok Sabha results.

"We don't have to make an attempt to bring down the JD-S-Congress government as it will collapse on its own soon due to infighting and blame-game for their worst ever performance," BJP spokesman G. Madhusudan told IANS.

--IANS

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