Poojary asks Gowda to reveal 'pact'

The ongoing tussle between the ruling coalition partners "" Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) "" reached a new height with Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president B Janardhana Poojary challenging JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda to make public "the agreement with Sonia Gandhi".

Poojary was reacting to Gowda's recent comments that the Congress party must abide by the "agreement signed between the coalition partners". Speaking to reporters, Poojary said, "Which is this agreement that Gowda made with Sonia? Let him make it public."

Stating that Gowda was repeatedly asking the Congress to abide by the agreement between All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi, Poojary added, "I was not part of the agreement and if there is anything like that, he (Gowda) must come out with the details of the agreement."

When asked about the delays in the Cabinet expansion, Poojary said that he had appealed to the chief minister to expedite this at the earliest. "Even I feel bad about the delay in Cabinet expansion. But just for this reason, the JD-S cannot override the Congress. Only Sonia Gandhi will decide who should be a minister from the Congress. JD-S has no role in this. The Congress need not succumb to pressure from the JD-S," Poojary said.

Poojary said that the JD-S must not use the situation (the delay in Cabinet expansion) to dictate terms to the Congress party. "Only party president Sonia Gandhi has the power to decide on who should become a minister from Congress. JD-S cannot dictate terms on the issue and similarly we too have no right to dictate terms to them," Poojary added.

When asked about former minister D K Shivkumar taking H D Revanna head on, Poojary said that he was not aware of the former's letter to the chief minister or any media reports on the matter. He said that he will react only after going through the statements made by them.

Revanna had criticised the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) and in particular, Nandan M Nilekani. Revanna held them responsible for the poor state of roads in Bangalore. He alleged the BATF did not do any work for four years. In response, Shivkumar wrote to the chief minister demanding a public apology from Revanna.