Trouble ahead for Deve Gowda?

Trouble is in store for former prime minister H D Deve Gowda with moves being made by senior leaders of Janata Dal (Secular) for his expulsion from the party for his continued support to the coalition government in Karnataka in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

M P Veerendra Kumar, leader of the Parliamentary Party, Surendra Mohan and Karnataka MLA P G R Sindhia, all National Executive members, have now convened a meeting of the National Council, the party's supreme policy-making body, by the end of December or January in Thiruvananthapuram.

This is to be followed by a national conference to take the 'logical decision' to expel Gowda from the party.

The three leaders said in a joint statement that this would be a follow-up to a decision of the February 20 meeting of the National Committee, presided over by Gowda, which suspended the MLAs, including Chief Minister H D Kumaraswami from the primary membership of the party for his decision to ally wih BJP.

In that meeting it was also recommended to the disciplinary committee for their expulsion which still stood, they said.

The three leaders appealed to all the members of the National Committee, state unit presidents and members of the state commitees who oppose Gowda to join hands to make the National Council a great success.

"We have to strengthen the platform of secularism, democracy and socialism," they said.

Meanwhile, the three leaders said Gowda openly supported the BJP coalition government and became a part of it and to this day he has not not convened the National Committee.

"So, we were compelled to convene a National Committee on August 5 and 6 in New Delhi and resolved that Deve Gowda, the president of the party, has no legal or political rights to continue in that post. The Committee also decided to hold the National Council of the party at the end of December. Deve Gowda has betrayed the party by joining hands with communal forces. After that, his expulsion from primary membership of the party is the only logical course to adopt," the three leaders said.

They said they were determined to ensure the defeat of the Gowda-BJP supported candidate in the by-election in Chanmundeswari Assembly constituency in Karnataka on December 4.

"We will take a decision as to whom to support after holding consultations with secular and the Left parties in Karnataka," they said.