Jd May Split In Karnataka

Over 20 Janata Dal legislators and seven ministers are reportedly making attempts to split the Janata Dal legislature party in Karnataka. A senior minister from this group said: We are preparing the ground to leave Dal to join hands with Lok Shakti. Ramkrishna Hegde has set January 8 as deadline for us.

The minister, however, said they could change their mind if Chief Minister J H Patel assures us of severing all ties with HD Deve Gowda and also of safeguarding our interests in the next assembly polls.

Lok Shakti chief Ramakrishna Hegdes January 8 deadline to his friends and followers has resulted in turmoil within the state Janata Dal and the Chief Minister is trying his best to maintain unity.

 

A senior minister said the Chief Minister has requested Hergde loyalists to stay in the party till the Lok Sabha polls are over but this has made many more legislators switch loyalty to Hegde. Since Hegde is going to safeguard our interest even in the next assembly polls, we may decide to split the JD soon, one of them said.

As a last ditch effort to keep the flock together, Patel has convened a meeting of his council of ministers, the third in ten days. Sources close to Patel maintaned that the party will not split as Patel will carry everyone with him.

However Bommai and Jalappa loyalists would wait for a final signal from their leaders before formally splitting the JD, said an MLA close to Jalappa.

The union textile Minister is expected to return to Bangalore today to elicit views from his loyalist before making his final move.