BJP hopes for Karnataka solution

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to wait until tomorrow to decide its future course of action on the Karnataka imbroglio.

Even with the Janata Dal (Secular), its coalition partner in the state, dithering from its promise of letting the BJP form a government as per the power-sharing agreement of 20 months ago, the BJP is still hopeful that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will keep his word.

On its own, the BJP has decided not to precipitate the crisis any further and wait to hear from the JD(S) leadership.

Top JD(S) leaders are slated to arrive in New Delhi for the party's political affairs committee meeting tomorrow. BJP president Rajnath Singh yesterday sounded optimistic, saying he was still hopeful that the coalition partner would respect its promise to the people of the state.

Meanwhile, the BJP's parliamentary board, its highest decision-making body, is scheduled to meet here today. On top of the agenda is a discussion on political developments in Karnataka and the formulation of a strategy to cope with the scenario in the event of the JD(S) refusing to play ball.

"All pros and cons of any decision we take - including withdrawing support to the JD(S) government would be discussed by the parliamentary board," said a senior party office-bearer.

The original agreement between the two parties mandated that Chief Minister Kumaraswamy hand over power to Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa of the BJP yesterday. The two parties had agreed to share power for a period of 20 months each after the JD(S) pulled out of the Congress party-led coalition government in January 2006.

While the BJP is ready to face fresh polls in the state, it is apprehensive about reports that the Congress party could decide to support the JD(S) to avoid elections.

Prime concern

Such an eventuality could marginalise the BJP in the state. At the same time, letting Kumaraswamy continue as the chief minister of the coalition would weaken the BJP's position in the only southern state where it has a mass base.

BJP president Singh yesterday said he would try and meet his JD(S) counterpart H.D. Deve Gowda tomorrow, while brushing aside the JD(S) alibi that it did not want to pass on power to the BJP during pitru paksha, which is considered an inauspicious period to begin new ventures. The pitru paksha fortnight is slated to end on October 12.