Karnataka: Wait and watch game begins all over again

With there being no sign of any reconciliation between any of the political parties in Karnataka, the wait and watch game has begun all over again.

This time around both the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular have decided to listen to what JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda will decide.

Gowda was in Delhi for the past two days and it is learnt that he was unable to make any headway through discussions he held with some of the Congress leaders.

Sources say he was asked to discuss the issue with the Congress leaders back in Karnataka instead.

Some of the leaders in the JD-S circles see this is a snub on Gowda's face and feel that he was not given the importance that he was due in New Delhi.

Gowda is aware that his party's image has taken a beating after ditching the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Lingayat community in particular is unhappy with Gowda as he refused to hand over power to the BJP.

The Lingayat community felt betrayed that B S Yediyurappa of the BJP who is a Lingayat was not made the chief minister.

Gowda in Delhi, with a view of checkmating the BJP on the Lingayat card, told the Congress that he would support the Congress and form the government in Karnataka provided they made M V Rajashekharan the chief minister.

Incidentally, Congress leader and Union Minister, M V Rajashekharan also belongs to the Lingayat community.

However, the Congress has not taken this suggestion by Gowda too kindly and feels that none should be dictating terms to them.

The JD-S feels that the Congress is singing a different song at the moment as they have managed to secure their government in the Centre as of now.

Earlier when things were a bit shaky with the Left, they were really wooing the JD-S, a senior leader from JD-S said.

Gowda will have to completing re-think his strategy at the moment and sources indicate that he will take a final decision by Wednesday.

What makes Gowda's job tougher is the pressure being exerted on him by his party legislators to truck with one of the parties and form the government.

The MLAs say that they are exhausted and are in no mood for elections, especially when the government has a 20 month term left in Karnataka.

The JD-S MLAs feel their leader should shed his ego and patch up with any one of the parties in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy is expected to take out a padayatra covering 1,000 km across the state to counter the allegations made against him by the BJP.

The BJP, meanwhile, in the mood for elections, are on a state wide campaign.

The Congress continues to wait for something to happen and at present they say that things will become clear in the coming week, when party observer Prithviraj Chauvan arrives in Bangalore next week.