Deve Gowda Hurls Bombshell, Says Mid-Term Poll Imminent, CM Kumraswamy Refutes

Bengaluru, June 21: JDS Supremo H D Deve Gowda Friday said going by the developments in the past two months, mid-term polls seem imminent and he is unsure about the longevity of the coalition government.

"I am not sure how long the coalition government would last. Going by the developments in the past two months, mid-term polls seem imminent. People can understand everything... Let me see how things pan out," he told a Kannada news channel.

Gowda said the ball is in the Congress'' court and fate of the coalition government rests on it.

"It (longevity of the government) depends on the Congress leaders. Let them decide what they want. In fact, it was the Congress leadership which wanted the coalition government," he said.

Gowda yesterday had said the coalition government was formed on the pressure of the Congress, but he was personally not in favour of it.

"They, Siddaramaiah, G Parameshwara, KH Muniyappa and others came to me and said they want to see H D Kumaraswamy as the chief minister. I did not go to them. I was not in favour of the coalition government," he said.

"They came to me saying, since you had bad experience with BS Yeddyurappa in the past to run the coalition government, you must form a coalition government with us," Gowda  added.

Moreover, JDS gave away cabinet berth from its quota to Congress in the interest of the coalition and yet the Congress is unhappy.

Gowda's comments came in the wake of Siddaramaiah's pitch for severing the ties with JDS before Congress High Command, during his visit to New Delhi to meet Rahul Gandhi.

Siddaramaiah had told the High Command that the image of the Congress has been sullied due to alliance wth JDS.

Raacting to Gowda'a comments, Kumaraswamy said the party supremo must have said in terms of local bodies' polls in the future.

"I am not aware of these comments, but the party supremo must have said, keeping in mind, the local bodies polls in future," he said.

The government is stable and would complete its  full term, he added.

Reacting to the comments, Deputy Chief Minister Parameshwar said Gowda is an experienced politician and he must have said with a purpose.

"The Congress should try to understand the comments of Gowda because he is an experienced politician and must have said with  purpose," he said.

Reacting to Gowda's comments, Congress MLA Munirathna said if the JD(S) was not happy with the Congress, let it end the alliance and go to polls.

Cabinet Expansion Will Only Reignite Dissent In Cong

Bapuu Naraayannkar

According to me, M Veerappa Moily is right when he said to me in an interview that any expansion or rejig of cabinet expansion will spell doom for the JDS-Congress government in Karnataka.

Today, as many as two or three legislators are expected to be inducted into the ministry.

This exercise, if someone asks me, will only reignite dissent, especially when some senior Congress leaders have openly flayed their senior leadership.

Particularly, Ramalinga Reddy and Roshan Baig, have been critical about their party leadership for not inducting senior leaders in the cabinet.

Baig had launched a bitter attack on KPCC President and K C Venugopal, by calling them a flop show and a bafoon, after Congress' poor Lok Sabha show in Karnataka, where it won just one seat.

Not far behind is Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, who has threatened to quit the party along with undeclared number of legislators after he was dropped after the first Cabinet reshuffle last December.

The main opposition party in the state - the BJP, which is short of eight MLAs to for the government, has been making attempts to woo some coalition parties' legislators to their side.

Not only this, the Congress also is divided over the issue of continuation of coalition government.

According to my sources, Siddaramaiah has been voicing his concern to AICC President Rahul Gandhi that the continuation of coalition government was not good for the party.

He is of the view that the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in Lok Sabha election owing to alliance with JDS.

Given this situation, the exercise to expand the cabinet will disappoint many legislators, who are aspiring to become ministers, including Jarkiholi, H K Patil, Reddy and Baig.

BJP has 105 seats, JDS and Congress 117 seats combined. Two are independents and one nominated member in 225-seat assembly.

World Cup: Pant Asked To Fly In To Replace Shikhar

London, June 12: Rishabh Pant is being flown in as replacement to injured Shikhar Dhawan at the request of team management.

"Rishabh Pant is being flown in as the cover at the request of team," BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said.

He further said Pant will be flown in  from India today.

Dhawan yesterday was ruled out of 2019 Cricket World Cup for 3 weeks with a fractured thumb ahead of crucial matches against Pakistan and New Zealand.

K L Rahul in all probability open with Rohit Sharma with Dinesh Karthik or Vijay Shankar likely to slot in the middle order.


Dhawan, who cracked a match-winning century against Australia, suffered thumb injury in the previous match against defending champions Australia at The Oval on Sunday.

He was declared unfit after a scan report revealed his fracture.

In the 2015 World Cup, Dhawan had scored 2 hundreds.

In 2019, after a poor start against South Africa, Dhawan smashed 117 to set up a 36-run win for India.

Dhawan had bagged man-of-the-match for his ton last match.

Shikhar Dhawan Almost Ruled Out Of WC, Rishabh Or Iyer May Fly In

Bapuu Naraayannkar

London: In a big blow to Team India, Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of 2019 Cricket World Cup for 3 weeks with a fractured thumb ahead of crucial matches against Pakistan and New Zealand.

The possible replacement for Dhawan, as per sources, could either be Shreyas Iyer or Rishabh Pant.

K L Rahul in all probability open with Rohit Sharma with Dinesh Karthik or Vijay Shankar likely to slot in the middle order.

Dhawan, who cracked a match-winning century against Australia, suffered thumb injury in the previous match against defending champions Australia at The Oval on Sunday.

He was declared unfit after a scan report revealed his fracture.

In the 2015 World Cup, Dhawan had scored 2 hundreds. 

In 2019, after a poor start against South Africa, Dhawan smashed 117 to set up a 36-run win for India.

Dhawan had bagged man-of-the-match for his ton last match.

Karnataka JDS Chief Vishwanath Quits Post Citing Cong Conspiracy To Defeat Deve Gowda

Bengaluru, June 4: A H Vishwanath Tuesday quit as State JDS President citing several reasons including Congress conspiracy to defeat party supremo Deve Gowda and Nikhil Kumaraswamy in Tumukuru and Mandya Lok Sabha constituencies.

He also alleged that the Congress is giving problems to Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to run coalition government smoothly.

Vishwanath also alleged Siddaramaiah for having full control over Coalition Coordination Committee, besides KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and himself having hardly any voice in it.

More details awaited