Kumaraswamy non-commital on future of JDS' alliance with Congress
Bengaluru: A day after the coalition government headed by him collapsed, outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday remained non-committal on the future of his party JDS' alliance with the Congress, saying both parties have not yet discussed it.
The 14-month old Congress-JDS coalition government headed by Kumaraswamy resigned on Tuesday, losing the vote of confidence in the assembly after a three-week long bitter jockeying for power.
"Today we have called our MLAs to work out future strategies. Our top priority is to develop our party, to get the confidence of the people of Karnataka and how to move ahead at this juncture. We will discuss," Kumaraswamy told reporters ahead of the JD(S) meeting at the party office here.
Responding to a question on continuing alliance with the Congress, he said, "Let us see...I don't know. I don't know about the stand of Congress leaders for the future... we have not discussed anything yet."
JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy, who is the JDS legislature party leader and party state unit chief, are part of the meeting with party legislators.
Congress and JD(S), considered arch rivals, especially in Mysuru region, had joined hands toform a coalition government after the May 2018 assembly polls threw up a hung verdict.
Both parties were routed in the recent Lok Sabha polls, winning just one seat each out of total 28 seats inthe state, as grassroot level workers of both parties were nothappy with the alliance.
Coalition worries and dissidence within had repeatedly threatened the government's stability and raised questions about its longevity.
The resignation of 15 MLAs -- 12 from the Congress and three from JD(S), and independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh withdrawing their support to the coalition government, compounded matters, pushing the government to the brink.
In the trial of legislative strength after the resignation of the MLAs, Kumaraswamy had garnered 99 votes against the 105by the opposition BJP, following which he resigned.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
