K'taka crisis: Moily wants coordination panel to consult Cong, JDS leaders

Bengaluru: Amid the rumblings in the ruling coalition in Karnataka, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily Friday said the coordination committee members should take decisions in consultation with the JDS leaders to ensure smooth functioning of the government.

He rued that even after a year of the JDS-Congress ministry formation, the committee headed by former chief minister Siddaramaiah could not prepare a common minimum programme (CMP) for the smooth functioning of the government.

“The coordination committee should take decisions with the involvement of Congress leaders and JDS President. That kind of flexibility should be built at all levels including taluka, district, state… for smooth functioning of coalition government. Unfortunately, this is not happening,” he told PTI in an interview here.

He was responding to a question on the resignation of JDS state President A H Vishwanath, who was locked in public spat in recent weeks with Siddaramaiah over his functioning as the coordination panel head and for not preparing the common minimum programme for smooth functioning of the government.

Vishwanath, who quit on June 4, had said neither he nor the Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao were part of the coordination committee.

Moily said unless the CMP was finalised, the coalition arrangement cannot focus on development, Moily said.

“I request the coordination committee and government to prepare a roadmap for implementation of the CMP to reassure the people that the coalition government is keen on programmes envisaged in the 2018 manifestos of both Congress and JDS,” he said.

Unless this was done, the coalition government cannot focus on development, Moily, a former union minister, said.

Vishwanath’s resignation came amid the simmering tension between the Congress and JDS following their dismal showing in the Lok Sabha elections where they managed to bag just one seat each out of the 28.

On the demand for removal of Congress general secretary K C Venugopal as Karnataka party incharge owning moral responsibility for the poll debacle, Moily said it was for the Congress high command to take a decision on it and wanted leaders to desist from making comments in public about the party affairs.

“I don’t think we should publicly make comments or wash dirty linen in public. That is not going to help the party. If anyone has any grievance, it should be aired within the four walls of the party,” he said stressing on unity of the party.

Replying to a question, Moily expressed confidence of the party bouncing back because it has an inherent sustaining power.

“I am always an optimist. Congress will bounce back today or tomorrow. We should not press the panic button. We may lose one or two elections, but Congress has the potential to make a comeback. Such kind of sustaining power is inherent in the party,” he said.