Has JD(S) national chief H D Deve Gowda trashed his 12-point conditions laid down to B S Yeddyurappa’s BJP to support a coalition government led by the saffron party?

The answer is no: the conditions still apply.

According to highly-placed sources in the JD(S), Deve Gowda is now waiting for the right time to bring forth the old copy of conditions (sent his BJP counterpart Rajnath Singh on November 1, 2007), though he is ready to soften his stand on some tougher riders.

The sources said Gowda is ready to give up one of the conditions — the 11th condition calling for dissolving the Assembly in case of mid-term elections to Parliament. “But he has said there cannot be any compromise on the others,” they added.

Gowda, however, is firm about conditions on altering or annulling the predecessor cabinet’s decisions of major ongoing projects, on important administrative postings and promotions, co-ordination and over-seeing committee and on protection to minorities and Dalits.

By tying the BJP’s hands from altering cabinet decisions of the Kumaraswamy-led government and transferring officials, Gowda wants to ensure that he continues to have a say in projects like the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), those close to the former prime minister said.

The JD(S) patriarch is learnt to have rebuked his son, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, for his emotional statement to the media that the support to the BJP will be unconditional, and advised him not to make further comments on the subject hereafter.

So, when will Gowda re-open the “condition” chapter? “In all probability, he will re-enter the scene and try to make Yeddyurappa accept the conditions soon after the Centre shows the green signal, if it does, to form the coalition government,” the sources said.

“How can there be a coalition government without any conditions. HDK may have made some statements. But it was not he who laid down the conditions. It is between Gowda and BJP national leaders. So, the conditions do apply,” the sources categorically asserted.

HIGHLIGHTS

Gowda is firm on:

*A condition to provide protection to minorities
*Co-ordination and over-seeing committee to be presided over by H D Kumaraswamy
*Important administrative postings and promotions to be made in consultation with H D Kumaraswamy
*No ongoing projects cleared by H D Kumaraswamy-led cabinet be altered or annulled

Gowda may give up:
*Condition to dissolve the Assembly in case of mid-term elections to Parliament.