JD-S lawmaker blames Congress for government's 'strains'

Hubbali (Karnataka), June 4 (IANS) Ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) legislator Basavaraj Horatti on Tuesday blamed ally Congress for the strains in the functioning of their year-old coalition government.

"A section of the Congress leadership has been interfering in the functioning of our government from day one and straining the relations between the alliance partners," he told reporters here.

Horatti, a member of the Legislative Council and former minister, hadrecently favoured dissolution of Assembly and a mid-term poll, ending uncertainty over the survival of the coalition government, which has a slim majority in the house.

"Instead of straining the ties further, it is better to dissolve the assembly and go for fresh polls as our party cannot be a mute witness to the dissident activity in the Congress affecting governance and day-to-day administration," he asserted.

Horatti's diatribe against the Congress came hours after JD-S state President A.H. Vishwanth resigned from the post, owning moral responsibility for the rout the party faced in the recent Lok Sabha elections. 

"Vishwanath's resignation is unfortunate but inevitable as party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy failed to rein in Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah from interfering in the government working and letting down the allies in winning more than one Lok Sabha seat each," Horatti alleged.

Though the ruling allies fielded joint candidates - 21 Congress and 7 JD-S, they only won two seats.