Thursday, August 4 2005 11:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: The two warring factions in Janata Dal Secular (JDS) are holding parallel Legislature Party meetings in Bangalore today (Aug 4, 2005) with the Deve Gowda camp setting the stage for ouster of rebel leader Siddaramaiah from the Deputy Chief Ministership.

JDS MLAs loyal to Party Supremo Gowda are holding a meeting this morning where senior leader and minister M P Prakash would take over as JDSLP leader in place of Siddaramaiah.

Gowda's supporters who clearly outnumber MLAs with Siddaramaiah have already insisted that the latter should be dropped from the ministry as also two other ministers H C Mahadevappa and Satish Jarkiholi loyal to him.

JDS has already submitted a letter to the Assembly Speaker Krishna conveying the party's decision to remove Siddaramaiah as JDSLP leader and appoint Prakash in his place.

Beleaguered Siddaramaiah has refused to budge, asserting he would not yield to the demand for stepping down as Deputy Chief Minister and is holding a parallel legislature party meeting in the evening.

It is still not clear what moves Siddaramaiah would make at the meeting to face the offensives of the Gowda camp.

Seeking to fish in the troubled waters, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B S Yediyurappa has said his party was willing to explore the possibility of forming an alternative Government with JDS if it broke off with its coalition partner, Congress, to avoid elections.

But, the BJP itself seemed to be a divided house on the issue, with a section of the party legislators and leaders feeling uncomfortable and upset over Yediyurappa's announcement before discussing the issue with the party's top national leadership.