JD-S headed for a split; Gowda unperturbed

The Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka appears to be heading for a split. M P Prakash, a senior JD-S leader, who had once threatened to break away from the party has threatened to do so again.

This time, Prakash has said he will not attend the executive committee meeting of the JD-S, which is scheduled to be held in Bangalore on November 29.

Prakash said that several JD-S legislators were in a state of confusion after a whip to vote against the Bharatiya Janata Party had been issued by party chief H D Deve Gowda. Prakash said that he would bring together like-minded party workers and hold a meeting with them a day before the executive committee meeting.

He said that the main agenda of the meeting would be to decide whether or not they should leave the JD-S. "There is a need to boost the morale of the party workers who feel that they do not have a future in the party after support was withdrawn so suddenly," he said.

Prakash, however, did not blame Gowda directly for the fiasco and said that had B S Yeddyurappa and his men behaved more professionally, the transfer of power would have been smooth.

Stung by these developments, former state chief minister H D Kumaraswamy held talks with JD-S leaders in Bangalore. He assured them of reviving the party and also said that in future, he would take independent decisions, and not go by what his father has to say.

Gowda, however, seemed calm about the developments and sarcastically said that anyone who wanted to join Prakash was welcome to do so.