Vinodhini
New Delhi, July 4: With JD(S) Kerala state unit president M.P. Veerendra Kumar, supported by three of five Kerala MLAs, refusing to accede to the party’s decision to continue with the LDF government in Kerala, the JD(S) loses it national footprint and is a step away from a vertical split.
At a heated national executive meeting of the rapidly shrinking JD(S), an irate M.P. Veerendra Kumar, former Union minister and MP, in imminent danger of being expelled from the party, accused former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of double standards. "How can any politically conscious person support the Congress at the Centre and another party in the state," he asked.
Mr Kumar, denied a ticket in Kozhikode by the LDF in the Lok Sabha elections, accused JD(S) officials of asking him to lobby the Congress for a Cabinet berth for H.D. Kumara-swamy before the latter met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and offered letters of support on behalf of the party. "I was asked by JD(S) general secretary Danish Ali to speak to Union defence minister A.K. Antony and recommend a Cabinet berth for H.D. Kumaraswamy," he said, adding, "I refused to do any such thing."
Mr Kumar said Mr Gowda "stage-managed" the party national executive. "There were no discussions on support to the LDF government," he said.
