Days after Kumaraswamy's spat with Cong, JD(S) supports Karnataka govt's land reforms bill

Days after JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy lashed out at Congress, his party helped BJP to get key legislation passed in the Karnataka Legislative Council. In the 75-member Upper House of the state legislature, the ruling BJP has only 31 seats while Congress and JD(S) have 29 and 14 MLCs respectively. The Karnataka Land Reforms (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 was tabled in the Legislative Council to replace an ordinance that was promulgated owing to the failure of the state government to get the legislation cleared in the Monsoon session.

While this bill was initially opposed by both Congress and JD(S), the HD Dewe Gowda-led party extended support to the legislation on Tuesday. Thus, 37 MLCs from BJP and JD(S) voted in favour of the bill while Congress' 21 members voted against it. Amending the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961, the aforesaid bill eases restrictions on buying of agricultural land. For instance, Sections 79(A), 79(B) and 79(C) have been repealed removing the income limit for purchasing land and allowing non-agriculturists to buy agricultural land. The Congress party had opposed the bill citing that the agricultural land might be used for real estate purposes. 

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Kumaraswamy slams Siddaramaiah

Speaking to the media in Mysuru on December 5, the JD(S) leader contended that he fell into a trap by agreeing to form the government with Congress after the 2018 Karnataka poll verdict threw up a hung Assembly. According to Kumaraswamy, he could have retained the Chief Minister's post even now if JD(S) allied with BJP. Moreover, he accused former CM and Congress' Siddaramaiah of conspiring against him. It is pertinent to note that the Congress-JD(S) government fell on July 23, 2019, after 17 of its legislators resigned. 

JD(S)'s HD Kumaraswamy remarked, "The goodwill that I had earned from the people of the state in 2006-07 (as CM) and which I had maintained for 12 years despite the big campaign against me for not transferring power to BJP, everything got destroyed by joining hands with the Congress. I might have been Chief Minister till now if I had chosen BJP."

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"They (Congress) said that my politics was Taj Westend Hotel politics. But they cheated us. They made strategies against me and to bring me down from CM chair. Siddaramaiah doesn't need to speak about my party, better let him concentrate on his own politics," the former Karnataka CM added. 

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