Thursday, August 4 2005 13:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Senior Janata Dal Secular (JDS) leader M P Prakash was today (Aug 4, 2005) elected JDS Legislature Party leader ousting Deputy Chief Minister and rebel leader Siddaramaiah who refused to step down from the post.

Prakash, a senior minister, was formally elected at a meeting of the Legislature Party convened by JDS state unit President N Thipanna, who had asked Siddaramaiah to quit 'as a gentleman' both as JDSLP leader and Deputy Chief Minister.

Siddaramaiah's removal comes a day after JDS leaders handed over a letter to the Assembly Speaker Krishna conveying that he no longer enjoyed the confidence of party legislators and they had decided to replace him as JDSLP leader by Prakash at a meeting held in Bangalore on Monday (Aug 1, 2005).

Unfazed by the moves of the Devegowda camp, Siddaramaiah had yesterday (Aug 3, 2005) refused to resign both as JDSLP leader and Deputy Chief Minister, asserting that their decision was 'illegal and in violation' of the party constitution.

Taking the Devegowda camp head on, Siddaramaiah is also holding a parallel Legislature Party meeting later in the evening. Making light of the JDSLP meeting called by Siddaramaiah bas 'of no value' with majority of MLAs on their side, the Gowda group only yesterday announced the convening of their legislature party meeting for today (Aug 4, 2005).

The fratricidal war within the JDS came to a head yesterday, when Gowda's loyalists sought Siddaramaiah's removal both as JDSLP leader and Deputy Chief Minister.

Siddaramaiah and Gowda have been at loggerheads in recent months over managing the party affairs but it came to a boil a fortnight ago when Siddaramaiah defied the former Prime Minister to attend a convention of backward classes, minorities and Dalits at Hubli where he was projected as Chief Ministerial candidate.

Principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also tried to fish in the troubled waters with opposition leader in the assembly B S Yediyurappa saying his party was willing to explore the possibility of forming an alternative Government if JDS broke off its relations with its ruling coalition partner, Congress.

But, the BJP itself appeared to be a divided house on the issue with a section of legislators and leaders reportedly not happy with Yediyurappa's announcement without consulting the party's top leadership.