Flashpoint for Karnataka coalition

As October 3, the agreed date for the handover of the Chief Minister's post in Karnataka from the JD (S) to the BJP gets closer; the two parties seem headed for a confrontation.

Twenty months of a JD (S) Chief Minister followed by 20 months for the BJP - that was the agreement.

And the BJP says that in Karnataka's political version of Twenty-20 cricket, it is now the BJP's turn to bat.

''We have fielded and bowled for 20 months, now it is our time to bat. There is no scope for negotiation. October 3 is our deadline and the Chief Minister must resign by the evening of October 2,'' said Yashwant Sinha, BJP Leader.

But as political meetings followed, speculations flew around and not everyone in the JD (S) was in the mood to meet the BJP's deadline.

''What deadline, what agreement was there between the two parties? There was an agreement between Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa. He now has to listen to the party,'' said Meerajudin Patel, State President, JDS.

October 3 was the agreed upon date for H D Kumaraswamy to hand over the CM's post to the BJP.

The BJP says this has to happen even as the JD (S) says there was no agreement between the parties, only between individuals.

Politics in Karnataka looks all set for a confrontation.
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