HD Kumaraswamy pushing Ramalinga for CM?

Bengaluru: Caretaker Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday met  BTM Layout Congress MLA  Ramalinga Reddy to discuss  political developments after the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. Mr Reddy termed it  a courtesy call to thank him for withdrawing his resignation from the assembly and voting in favour of the confidence motion moved by the CM.  

Talking to reporters, Mr Kumaraswamy said, “I wanted to discuss many issues with Mr Reddy in Vidhana Soudha but that didn't happen, So, I came here to thank him for his support,” he added.

Mr Reddy  said his earlier decision to quit the assembly was purely personal and he changed his mind after a request by Mr Deve Gowda and senior Congress leaders.

The former minister said he was only concerned about three rebel legislators from Bengaluru-Mr Byrati Basavaraj, Mr N Muniratna and Mr S.T. Somashekar since he had been associated with them for long. After the fall of the Kumaraswamy government, he did not try to speak to the rebels since the party had initiated action against them and also sought their disqualification.

Not commenting on the possibility of mid-term polls, Mr Reddy said, “I have my own doubts regarding the longevity of the BJP government and whether it will survive even for a year. I am not ready to comment on the ties between Congress and JD(S) as the decision will be taken by the party high command.”

Caretaker Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy may have lost his post but he has not given up efforts to form an alternative government and reportedly tried to rope in senior Congress leader, R. Ramalinga Reddy for the purpose. Mr Kumaraswamy who met Mr Reddy at the latter's residence on Thursday, was planning to convince the Congress high command to accept Mr Reddy for the Chief Minister’s post in which case Janata Dal (Secular) would support him.  The only condition: Mr Reddy will have to convince a few rebels to return to the Congress fold, said sources. However, Mr Reddy did not seem keen on the idea knowing quite well that the situation went out of control a long time back when the rebel MLAs including S.T. Somashekhar, Bhairati Basavaraj and Munirathna stopped communicating with him.