It was time for Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday after the latter decided to withdraw support in Karnataka.
The BJP had termed the decision by the JD-S not to hand over power to the BJP as the biggest betrayal and BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu had even gone to the extent of terming it as the biggest betrayal ever. Naidu had also said that the people of Karnataka will never forgive the JD-S for this betrayal.
However, Kumaraswamy decided not to keep quiet and on his arrival at Bangalore on Saturday, he said, it is not the JD-S, but the BJP which has betrayed their trust. "Till the last moment, I had every intention of handing over power to the BJP as I had promised 20 months back. I kept quiet all along and did not say a word. However in the final days, the BJP leaders behaved very badly and this is what made me change my decision. I had only said that I wanted the BJP to come forward and hold talks with us. Was that asking for too much?" Kumaraswamy questioned.
"One must realise that it is not a child's play to run a government. The recent incident in which a bus was burnt over the Ram Sethu issue, the Mangalore riots and the stoning of Karunanidhi's daughter's house, all these are dangerous incidents. Do you think I should have handed over power without ensuring that such incidents do not take place in future? What about the security of the state. The welfare of the people is more important than my word or promise, an emotional Kumaraswamy said.
Kumaraswamy also ruled out any truck with the Congress. He felt that political parties should stop deciding the fate of the government and it should be the people who should decide.
Kumaraswamy indicated that his party was gearing up for a mid-term poll.
When it comes to politics there are no holidays. Sunday will witness a sea of political activity. The highlight of the day would the resignation programme by the BJP leaders.
Former deputy chief minister, B S Yediyurappa said all the BJP ministers will march to the Raj Bhavan. The BJP ministers will first hand over their resignations to Governor Rameshwar Thakur and then will try and convince the governor to ensure that mid-term elections are held at the earliest.
The BJP would want to ride on the sympathy factor and feels that if the elections are delayed, then the public sympathy may die down. They will also try and ensure that Kumaraswamy does not get a long stint as the caretaker chief minister.
Apart from this, the JD-S will convene its legislature party meeting. The meeting will decide on the next course of action to be taken by the party. The Congress will also make its moves on Sunday. The Congress will step in once the BJP ministers resign.
Meanwhile some Congress leaders have been called by the high command in New Delhi to hold discussions.
The Congress says that it will not make any move, unless the BJP ministers actually hand over their resignations to the governor. Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Veerappa Moily said that anything could happen in politics and unless the BJP ministers hand over their resignations to the governor, nothing can be said.