There seems to be no end to discordant voices coming from the ranks of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition. On Sunday, it was the turn of Congress MLA representing Yeshwantpur S.T. Somashekar, who said that development work in Bengaluru city had slowed down under the coalition regime.
The newly appointed chairperson of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) said road development in the city is not progressing well, unlike in the past when Siddaramaiah was Chief Minister. “Mr. Siddaramaiah should have got one more opportunity,” he said. Mr. Somashekar is a vocal loyalist of the former CM.
Incidentally, Mr. Somashekar, a strong Cabinet berth aspirant, had to go through some anxious days after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who had approved over a dozen appointments to the posts of chairpersons to boards and corporations, as well as parliamentary secretaries, held back his appointment as BDA chairman.
Showering praise on Mr. Siddaramaiah at a private event in the city, he said that the former Chief Minister gave equal opportunity to all, irrespective of caste. However, in the JD(S), some have given opportunities to sons and daughters-in-law, he said in an apparent reference to JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda’s family getting party positions and poll tickets.
Refusing to comment on Mr. Somashekar’s statement, Mr. Gowda told presspersons that such things happen in a coalition set-up and he was not taking it seriously. “It is his [Mr. Somashekar’s] opinion,” he said.
Mr. Somashekhar’s expressing such views in public has raised curiosity in political circles, particularly because of his proximity with former Chief Minister and coalition coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah, who has had an uneasy relationship with the JD(S) in the past.
The timing of his remarks too is curious as it comes close on the heels of BJP leaders maintaining that it was internal contradictions within the ruling coalition that triggered political instability, not their alleged efforts to topple the government.
