Wednesday, May 11 2005 10:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: The rough edges in ties between the Congress and its ruling coalition partner Janata Dal Secular (JDS) refuse to go away even as they are about to complete a year in office.

Display of show of strength twice in a gap of just one month by JDS has brought to fore the simmering tension the coalition Government is suffering from and annoyed major partner Congress.

Congress and JDS, which fought each other bitterly in 2004 Assembly elections decided to join hands to rule, setting aside their "horizontal" political ideologies to keep Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power.

The recent events and slinging match indulged by leaders of both the camps has created a sense of uneasiness among members of both the parties besides casting its impact on the governance.

The domineering posture adopted by JDS was largely responsible for triggering off a "volatile" political situation in the State despite the Congress seeking to maintain its "cool" to save the first ever coalition Government, according to observers.

Congress got the taste of JDS whip when that party's supremo and former Prime Minister H D Devegowda raked up a controversy alleging excess land has been acquired for the Bangalore-Mysore Express way project, apparently targeting the image of previous Government headed by S M Krishna.

Buckling under pressure of Gowda, the Government set up a committee to review the entire project and decisions adopted on the basis of that panel has now landed the administration into trouble with the High Court quashing it and ordering for prosecuting the chief secretary K K Mishra and another official for alleged "perjury".

Gowda has drawn a line between his party and Government ever since he chose to join hands in the formation of a coalition Government.

In tune with this policy, JDS held a massive rally of its newly elected Gram Panchayat members last month. This brought consternation in Congress circles as Gowda virtually scored on the issue of organising a convention of Panchayat members.

This was followed by JDS holding a convention of slum dwellers to focus on their problems. Gowda had firmly rejected pleas by Congress leaders to drop the slum dwellers convention and dared other parties to emulate him.