Marriage on rocks with BJP, will JD(S) look to Cong?

New Delhi: While the JD(S)-BJP alliance in Karnataka is now officially over, there is speculation that the HD Deve Gowda-led party may now be exploring the option of a fresh alliance with the Congress.

All the 17 BJP ministers submitted their resignations to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday night at the end of the party's deadline for the transfer of power at 1800 hours (IST).

Last January, the JD(S) had sprung a surprise on the Congress when it pulled the rug from the Congress-led coalition in the state and joined hands with the BJP in a power-sharing pact.

So far, the Congress has adopted a 'wait and watch' policy on Karnataka despite reports that there is a possibility of it extending outside support to the JD(S) to retain power if it severed links with the BJP.

"We are watching the situation closely," AICC General Secretary Prithviraj Chavan said on Tuesday when asked about reports of the possibility of the party extending outside support to the JD(S).

While the JD(S) has deferred the issue till October 5, when the political affairs committee of the party is to decide on the future course of action, political observers interpret it as a ploy to buy time till Congress President Sonia Gandhi's return from New York on October 5.

The Congress had so far been giving signals that it does not want to get embroiled in the power tussle in Karnataka as such a move would be electorally counter-productive. "Why should we take the anti-incumbency of the JD(S) when the election is the best way out," party leaders argued.

Former Congress chief minister of Karnataka, N Dharam Singh, is however believed to be strongly against the proposal of aligning with Janata Dal-Secular.

Till last week, however, the Congress maintained that there was no question of the Congress taking any position on Karnataka. ''We want the government to go in the event of a crisis developing within the present ruling coalition,'' a senior Congress leader said, while pointing out that ''we will not marry the JD (S).''

He said the assessment of the Congress party was that it had good chances in any election in Karnataka.

The speculation was floated after a comment by KPCC President Mallikarjun Kharge that the party will react to the situation in a day or two. "We are watching the situation and will react in a day or two," he said. Senior Congress leaders, who met in New Delhi on Tuesday, however, dismissed the reunion theory as conjecture.