After refusing to transfer power to BJP, its coalition partner in Karnataka JD-S favoured fresh elections in the state and ruled out any truck with Congress to continue in power."Our intention is to go for people's mandate," JD-S president H D Deve Gowda said after an extended meeting of the Political Affairs Committee which reviewed the political situation in the wake of BJP withdrawing support to Kumaraswamy government.To repeated questions whether JD-S would have any tie up with the Congress to remain in the saddle, he categorically ruled out any such arrangement saying his party stuck to the policy of maintaining equidistance from both Congress and BJP.He dismissed a suggestion that JD-S was ‘power hungry’ as it had aligned with both Congress and BJP to govern, but when it came to honouring its commitment to transfer power, it did not do so.Gowda said JD-S was ‘constrained to recommend to the state party not to transfer power to BJP’ as the saffron party not only began a ‘vicious campaign’ against JD-S particularly targeting the Chief Minister and his family, but also an FIR was filed against the Chief Minister by one of the BJP Ministers charging him with murder conspiracy.He said the BJP was ‘unnerved’ by the growing popularity of the Chief Minister as was reflected in the outcome of the recent civil polls.
