Bangalore: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal - Secular (JD-S) supremo H D Deve Gowda today (May 21, 2004) asserted that there was no question of climbing down on its demand with Congress that the proposed coalition Government to be installed in Karnataka should be led by his party.

Displaying his grit to force the Congress to concede the Chief Minister's post to JD-S, which has emerged as a key player after the polls threw a fractured verdict, Gowda said, "Nobody can blackmail Deve Gowda."

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He said he would be having one-to-one dialogue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on May 24 and 25 to sort out the issue and reach a final agreement.

Gowda firmly ruled out the prospect of JD-S yielding to Congress, which has stuck to its stand that the coalition Government should be on the Maharashtra model where the Congress as a major partner has the Chief Ministerial berth, leaving the Deputy Chief Ministership to its junior ally NCP.

Gowda, who was involved in hectic parleys with State unit party leaders including its Chief Ministerial nominee Siddaramaiah, M P Prakash, P G R Sindhya and C M Ibrahim, said, "Nothing has been decided so far," apparently spiking speculations that the JD-S was relenting in accepting the Congress demand.

"Why should we accept it," Gowda shot back when asked whether there was any change in the stand of the party on Chief Ministerial post, which has become a bone of contention in striking a consensus between the parties on formation of a coalition Government.