From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Jun 15: Even as all Congress leaders have been asserting that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who is heading the JD(S)-Congress coalition government after the hung assembly verdict, will stay in the post for the entire five year term, the JD(S) leader sprang surprise on everyone by claiming that he will continue as the Chief Minister of Karnataka till 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Kumaraswamy’s statement during a media interaction after addressing the 15th Karnataka State convention of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in Bengaluru on Friday raised many eyebrows and even caused speculation in political circles given the fact that some Congress leaders in the State have been suggesting that the Chief Minister’s post should be rotated after 30 months.
It is not clear as to why Kumaraswamy spoke about his remaining in office till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and whether he was expressing his reservations over the disquiet and even open rebellion in Congress and JD(S) parties after the recent cabinet expansion and also the disgruntlement over the distribution of portfolios.
The Chief Minister enigmatically said that no one could touch him for the next one year and he would continue to be the Chief Minister till the next year’s general elections.
Kumaraswamy said the State has been receiving good monsoon and farmers were happy and the rains started from the day he and the Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara were sworn in. "This is a good sign," he said.
He declared that he was determined to serve the people till his last day in the office and nobody could disturb him from the Chief Minister’s chair for the next one year.
Kumaraswamy was Chief Minister of the State for just 20 months during the JD(S)-BJP regime in 2005-06.
Names of CMP Drafting Committee members announced
Meanwhile, the names of the five-member Drafting Committee being constituted for preparing a Common Minimum
Program (CMP) of the JD(S) and Congress coalition government have been announced on Friday.
Of the five members, three are from the Congress and two from the JD(S).
Congress members of the drafting committee are: former Union Minister and chairman of Congress manifesto Committee M Veerappa Moil, Revenue Minister RV Deshpande, Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar.
The JD(S) members of the panel are: Minister for Public Works HD Revanna and Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister Dr S Subrahmanya, according to a press release from Kunwar Danish Ali, Convener, of JD(S)-Congress coalition coordination committee.
The decision to constitute the committee was taken at the first meeting of the coordination panel held on Thursday.
The Drafting Committee would study the election manifestos of both the Congress and JD(S) and prepare the draft of CMP within 10 days. The Coordination Committee would approve the draft.