Cong invites Siddaramaiah to its fold

Congress on Wednesday invited former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah, a bete noire of JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda, to join the party and declared it will fight the new BJP and Kumaraswamy-led JDS faction coalition "even in the streets".

Siddaramaiah, who had revolted against Gowda, accusing him of promoting his sons to control the affairs of JDS, is now heading the state unit of All India Progressive Janata Dal.

Congress' moves to seek alliance with him in some zilla panchayat bodies was cited as a major factor for the relations between Congress and JDS reaching a breaking point.

Accusing BJP and Kumaraswamy of forming an "unholy alliance", Prasad said Congress will observe February 3 as a "black day". "We will fight them even in the streets".

He admitted that a section of the Congress was as much responsible as a faction of JDS for the collapse of the coalition government. Prasad said Congress had become a "victim of a conspiracy hatched out of lust for power".