Saturday, May 28 2005 14:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Surviving the coalition blues, the Congress-JDS (Janata Dal Secular) Ministry in Karnataka completed one year in office today (May 28, 2005) but the bumpy ride seems far from over for the ruling partners who are working hard for mutual reconciliation.

Constantly reworking the coalition chemistry, Chief Minister N Dharam Singh has managed the contradictions well enough to keep the coalition going, despite constant nagging and pinpricks by the coalition partner, JDS.

Keeping the JDS in good humour, Singh has not invited any major trouble from it but questions are being raised within the ranks of the Congress about allowing Devegowda's party to be dominant in a way that diminishes the Congress presence.

Singh however dismisses suggestions that he was being bulldozed by Gowda and he is under pressure from him. "No problem from Gowda. What is the problem from him", he asked in an interview with PTI on the eve of completing one year in office.

The Chief Minister has also largely remained oblivious of the attacks between leaders of Congress and JDS against each other and would not find fault with Gowda for raising issues with him, some of them even very aggressively to the point of causing severe embarrassment to the Congress.

Aware of the coalition compulsions and limitations, Singh himself has admitted that both Congress and JDS were forced by circumstances to join hands together to keep the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) at bay after it emerged as the single largest party in a fractured verdict in the Assembly polls.

Despite being in Government, JDS has been raking up one issue after another, including land grabbing in and around Bangalore, leaving Singh to answer more for his partner than the principal Opposition BJP, which itself is preoccupied with keeping its own house in order.

On the administration front, the State Government pats its back for its tilt towards farmers and revenue mobilisation but did not initially seem to vibe well with the IT and BT sector bigwigs who made noises about the poor infrastructure in Bangalore reaching a breaking point.

The Government has however sought to address the issues raised by the IT and BT sectors also, knowing full well that the State should maintain its numero uno position in both.

Forest brigand Veerappan who had cocked a snook at different Governments may have gone, but a new source of worry is emerging for the Government in the form of rising naxalism, forcing the State to deploy the Special Task Force to meet the new challenge.

Singh's please all and sober approach has been attributed in political circles for steering the coalition well thus far but with each partner seeking to keep its political space in tact and even occupy more, the coming days may pose tougher challenges to him.