Siddaramaiah not doing well as coordination committee head: JD(S)'s H. Vishwanath

Adding fuel to the internecine fighting in the ruling coalition in Karnataka, state JD(S) president H. Vishwanath criticised coalition's coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah stating that he is not doing well at the post.

"I am not only talking about Siddaramaiah. My point is as chief, Siddaramaiah should take both parties together and it is very important to implement the common minimum programme. We have not understood till now the policies, rules and regulations of the coalition. Who will write? It should be the president," he told media here.

The JD(S) leader went on to add that Congress leader Siddaramiah not performing his job well.

"(As) president of JD(S), within my limits I am trying to bring to the notice of the government the things that can be done. Between me and Siddaramaiah, we don't have anything personal, we have nothing. Your feeling that as the chief of the coordination committee Siddaramaiah is not doing well... I say yes," he added.

However, Vishwanath has expressed that despite all issues, the "coalition government will stay for the long term."

"We have to go for polls once in five years. We can't hold elections every year. Elections cannot be finished within Rs 5 or 10 lakhs. Now for the Assembly elections, we need crores of rupees... HD Kumaraswamy will continue as Chief Minister of Karnataka for a full term," he said.

"In UPA 1 and UPA 2, Sonia Gandhi was the president of the coalition committee... She ran 10 years coalition government successfully. She also wrote about common minimum programs... She also implemented it. My question is why it's not happening here," he added.

His comments come after Congress leader Roshan Baig had on Tuesday attacked AICC incharge of Karnataka K Venugopal as a buffoon, Siddaramiah as arrogant and state working president of Congress Dinesh Gundu Rao as a flop show.

The party has served a showcause notice seeking an explanation from him within a week. To which, the Congress MLA said he will not even bother reading the notice as it has "clearly been sent on the orders of the same people whose incompetencies were highlighted" by him.

Baig has accused Congress Legislature Party Leader (CLP) Siddaramaiah for the "collapse" of the Congress-JD(U) alliance in the state.

Amidst the friction in the coalition in Karnataka, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy cancelled his visit to New Delhi to meet Election Commission, along with the 21 opposition parties, over the issue of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).

-ANI