BANGALORE, Feb 4: Will Chief Minister J H Patel convene another special session of Assembly, now that former Minister and MLA P C Siddanagouder has joined Hegde's Rashtriya Nava Nirmana Vedike?'' asked former Minister and Vedike Convenor R V Deshpande on Tuesday.Deshpande who announced P C Siddanagouder, a powerful Veerashaiva leader from Kalghatgi in Dharwar District, joining Hegde's non-political outfit said, ``J H Patel might have thought that calling a special session of the Assembly soon after we resigned as ministers could stem the exodus from Janata Dal. But it never took place as he planned.''
Expressing his confidence that there would be more exodus from Janata Dal before the elections to the Lok Sabha he replied to a question on the status of his former colleauges in the Patel ministry, Ramesh Jigajinagi and Ajay Kumar Sarnaik. ``The decision of resigning from Janata Dal either for me or my colleauges do not arise. Let that party take a decision on the matter. How could they allow Gulbarga MPQuamarul Islam, who was formerly with Muslim League, to join Janata Dal. Why can't his joining Janata Dal attract Anti-defection Law ?''
Among those who joined Vedike along with Siddanagouder include: former Zilla Panchayat president and present member V S Patil, Kalghatgi Town Municipal Council President Kallappa Khandekar, former JD Taluk President Basanna Mantoor and another Janata Dal functionary Chandra Gowda Patil.
Siddanagouder explaining his decision of joining Hegde said that the District Janat Dal has been headed by an autocratic leader, not mentioning Union Minister S R Bommai's name. He said the party leadership always tried to keep the party as their `personal property.'
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
