Bangalore, January 23
It seems to be curtains for the Congress in Karnataka with a former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) President, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda, doing a classic turnaround and blessing his son’s rebellion after a meeting with him here today.

Mr Gowda, who had been consistently talking of keeping the door open for a reconciliation with the Congress after his son, Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, walked out with a majority of legislators, tried to justify his new stance by saying his son had saved the JD(S) by his actions.

“I have said it once and I will say it a hundred times. The Congress wants to destabilise my party.”

When asked what would be his next move, he said he would give details only after meeting Ms Sonia Gandhi.

The volte-face by the former Prime Minister and the manner in which his son came to meet him from Hyderabad after consistently saying he was not being allowed to do so seems to give credence to views claiming that Mr Gowda may have been master of the political game all along. A man, who summed up the rebellion by his son as the saddest day of his life, said today that his son had done a good thing by betraying him. His statement means the split in the J D(S) may be only temporary and senior JD(S) leaders may also come around as Mr Kumaraswamy has predicted all along.

There was much speculation whether the meeting between father and son would take place or not. While Mr Kumaraswamy continued to deny this would happen, JD(S) spokesman Y.S.V. Datta claimed that the son would be holding talks with his father on “the political developments in the state”. He, however, said this meeting was taking place at the instance of “sympathisers” of Mr Gowda and was not being held at the instance of the former Prime Minister.

JD(S) sources said the patch up was affected after Mr Kumaraswamy told his father about the “plot” by former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna and expelled JD(S) leader Siddaramaiah to split the JD(S). However, this reasoning is not being bought by anyone in political circles. Siddaramaiah, who has all along being calling the political crisis a “drama” engineered by Mr Gowda to see his son in the Chief Minister’s chair, was the first to come out with a “I told you so” statement today. He said this “unethical activities” should be opposed.

The main player in the political drama, Mr Kumaraswamy, is set to hold a meeting of his party legislators before returning with them to Bangalore tomorrow. He, however, made it clear that there would be no going back on a coalition with the BJP.

“If we turn back now no one will believe us again,” he said.

Though there is a speculation now that Chief Minister Dharam Singh may throw in the towel before January 27, BJP senior leader B.S. Yediyurappa said the JD(S)-BJP government would assume office on January 28. He claimed that moves of Congress President Sonia Gandhi to prevent this would be “frustrated”.