Coalitions here to stay, says BKC

Coalition governments are here to stay, but leaders in an alliance should act more responsibly than resort to mudslinging, senior Congress leader B K Chandrashekar told reporters on Wednesday.

In order to ensure the success of coalitions, there is a need to develop ideological compatability between the partners, he said, citing BJP and Shiv Sena as an example.

The former minister said one of the factors that affected the coalition and subsequently the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka was that the leaders of both the parties did not reach out to grassroot level workers.

Reacting to JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda’s charges, Congress leader Siddaramaiah alleged that the government collapsed as former chief minister Kumaraswamy ignored Congress MLAs. However, Kumaraswamy has revealed that Rs 19,000 crore was sanctioned to constituencies with Congress MLAs and has challenged Siddaramaiah for an open debate. Siddaramaiah should accept this challenge and respond, he said.