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JDLP passes the buck to Sharad Yadav

The Janata Dal legislature party in Karnataka today authorised party president Sharad Yadav to take a final decision on resolving the crisis in the state unit.

A resolution to this effect, moved by Chief Minister J H Patel and seconded by Deputy Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah, was unanimously adopted at the meeting, state Janata Dal chief B L Shankar told the media in Bangalore.

The resolution came as a climax to the hectic parleys among party politicians since Yadav's arrival in the city last night.

The JDLP meeting was even postponed from morning to afternoon to allow for last-minute efforts to avert a showdown between the groups led by Patel and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

The resolution said Yadav would take a final decision in consultation with the central and state leaders of the Dal.

Yadav later told the media that he would resolve the crisis at the earliest. But he did not set a time frame. "I will do it when I am free," he said.

He said the rival groups in the state unit were interested in maintaining unity in and strengthening the Janata Dal which was born in Karnataka. "Now the party is middle-weight and we want to make it heavyweight," he claimed.

He dismissed as hypothetical a question whether Patel would continue as chief minister till the next assembly election.

UNI

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