BENGALURU: Asserting that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by him is committed to providing a good and stable administration,
Karnataka chief minister H D
Kumaraswamy on Monday sought time to address various issues.
"Under strange circumstances, this government has been formed... I want time... I can't do jaadu (magic) to change things immediately," he said.
He was referring to various issues raised by MLAs during the discussion, on the motion of thanks to the governor's address, ranging from irrigation projects and illegal sand mining, among others.
The dissuasion also saw a verbal spat between him and leader of the opposition B S Yeddyurappa, who flayed the tie up between Congress and JD(S), which came together to form the government after the May 12 polls threw up a hung assembly.
Kumaraswamy said the government has started working to help every section of society with humanness.
On the opposition BJP terming the alliance as 'unholy' and a betrayal of the people, he said their fears that polls would be held immediately again was unfounded.
"The coalition government will survive and work efficiently," he said.
Kumaraswamy said his was a majority coalition government and not just of 37 JD(S) MLAs as projected by the BJP.
He retorted that when the JD(S)-BJP coalition government was in power in 2006, despite being the bigger party, BJP had supported him as Chief Minister.
"Wasn't it murder of democracy then?" he asked.
Kumaraswamy said it was with the blessings of God and the cooperation of Congress leaders that he became chief minister.
"No one would have bet that I could become chief minister... even I did not....because of the situation that arose, certain decisions were made and I took charge, so I called myself a child of circumstances," he added.
He said predictions were being made about the downfall of his government when it has completed just 45 days in office and reminded the opposition that "power is not permanent, what one achieves while in power is important".
Replying to criticism for not announcing farm loan waiver within 24 hours after coming to power, as promised, he said he had assured he would do it on coming to power 'independently'.
However, he noted that he was running a coalition government and had certain limitations.
"....also people had rejected my manifesto in the polls by not giving JD(S) a majority. But I have still taken steps towards farm loan waiver," he said.
In a major succour to distress-hit farm sector, he had announced a Rs 34,000 crore farm loan scheme in the maiden budget of the Congress-JDS coalition government on July 5.
Kumaraswamy asserted that he was chief minister of 6.5 crore people of Karnataka and alleged that false information was being spread that only certain regions were given priority in the budget.
During his reply, Kumaraswamy also took a jibe at Yeddyurappa and BJP, pointing at their conduct during 2006 coalition government to which the leader of the opposition hit back, resulting in heated exchanges between both of them.
Yeddyurappa, who termed Kumaraswamy as 'acting chief minister', accused him of betrayal by not handing over power to BJP as per a power-sharing agreement between the parties then.
He alleged Kumaraswamy had not only betrayed him but also 'back stabbed' former chief minister Dharm Singh by withdrawing support from his Congress-JD(S) government, leading to its collapse. "In that pain, Singh died," he charged.
This resulted in heated arguments, which was brought under control after the Speaker Ramesh Kumar intervened.
Both leaders sparred once again, when Yeddyurappa alleged that betrayal was in Kumaraswamy's blood.
As both chief minister and JD(S) took strong exception to the language used, leading to chaos, the Speaker intervened to calm down both leaders.
Yeddyurappa also threatened that he and 104 BJP MLAs would go to people after the assembly session to point out that both Congress and JD(S) have not fulfilled promises made ahead of polls in the budget.
The BJP leader also demanded that Kumaraswamy waive all the debts of farmers, a promise he said the JD(S) leader had made in the run-up to the polls.
"Before the assembly elections, Kumaraswamy promised to waive all kinds of farmers loans.But he has restricted himself to waiving loans to the extent of Rs two lakh, applicable till December 2017. He owes an explanation to the people and farmers of the state," Yeddyurappa said.
He alleged that farmers were not able to get fresh loans because the government had not reimbursed about Rs 3,500 crore to Rs 4,000 crore to cooperative banks after the erstwhile Congress government waived short-term farm loans in the cooperative sector.
