Give up power if you can't rule: Yeddyurappa to Cong-JD(S) coalition

Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa Friday asked the Congress-JD(S) to give up power if it cannot run the government and asserted that his party would govern in case the coalition collapses and would make sure there is no mid-term polls.

The former chief minister said no one has confidence that the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government would last long. "Kumaraswamy's son (Nikhil) has asked JD(S) workers to prepare for election. I'm saying that there won't be election at any cost. It has been just a year (since assembly elections). We (BJP) have 105 legislators, if they can, let them govern, if they can't let them give up, we will govern," Yeddyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters at Hubballi, he said, "There is no question of going for fresh elections for any reason. We will not agree to it. We will go to election only after five years. No one has confidence that this government will continue for long, let's wait and see."

Yeddyurappa was reacting to a video doing the rounds on social media in which Nikhil can be heard purportedly asking JD(S)workers to prepare themselves for assembly polls, saying one doesn't know when it would come.

Boasting about BJP's performance in the state in the Lok Sabha polls, Yeddyurappa had last week said, it would be "better" if the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state dissolves the assembly and goes for fresh polls.

However, he had subsequently retracted, saying the BJP would wait for the Congress-JD(S) government to collapse on its own due to "infighting". Buoyed by the party's victory in the Lok Sabha polls, Yeddyurappa Friday began his three-day tour to drought-hit areas of north Karnataka, aimed at cornering the coalition government over its alleged failure in managing the situation.

The Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly hit out at Chief Minister's scheduled 'Grama Vastvya' (overnight stay in villages) programme to make the administration more effective, and termed it as "political circus". "Is there any meaning to CM's Grama Vastvya? Last time (in Kumaraswamy's previous tenure as CM) when he did Grama Vastvya he had promised to give Rs 1 crore to villages he visited. But he did not give. What is the situation of those villages today?" he questioned.

"Instead, the CM should visit drought-affected areas, understand the issues there and solve them, other than that staying overnight at village schools and claiming that- I'm doing Grama Vastvya. Is it necessary today? He has to question himself. People won't like it. It's a kind of political circus to shift focus of the people from core issues," he said.

Kumaraswamy is scheduled to begin his Grama Vastvya from June 21 at Gurmitkal taluk in Yadgir district. The next day, he is scheduled to be at Afzalpur taluk in Kalaburagi district. On June 28 and 29, he will be at Sidhanur of Raichur and Bidar's Basavakalyana, respectively.

Continuing his party's opposition to the government's decision regarding the sale of 3,667 acres of land to JSW Steel in Ballari at a low price, Yeddyurappa, alleging some kind of foul play in it on part of Kumaraswamy, said the BJP has planned massive protests against it on June 13, 14 and 15.