Deve Gowda indicates JDS is keen on continuing alliance with Congress
Bengaluru, Sep 12: After engaging in a blame game over the collapse of their coalition government, JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Thursday indicated his party is still open for continuing its alliance with the Congress.
"To get rid of the bad situation in the country, we have to keep aside our personal jealousy," he told reporters here in an apparent attack on the BJP-led NDA rule without naming it.
Gowda hinted he was open for an alliance with the Congress in 17 assembly constituencies, where bypolls have been necessitated following the disqualification of rebel MLAs, but said it all depended on the decision of the national party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.
In the bypolls, the JD(S) was not inclined to contest all the constituencies as the Congress was more stronger on many of the segments, he said adding it was for Sonia Gandhi to take the decision.
He said she cannot decide without consulting Karnataka Congress leaders.
I don't know what is the stand of the local leaders, I have not discussed with anyone every one knows about developments that are happening in the country. so if they come to a decision, if local leaders of that party come to a consensus, we will give cooperation I have said. There is nothing to misinterpret, he added.
Gowda and Congress strongman in the state Siddaramaiah had traded charges, blaming each other for the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July after it was rocked by dissidence.
Both Congress and JD(S) leaders have also been non- committal over the continuation of the alliance after the fall of the coalition government.
Congress leaders including state party chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Siddaramaiah, who is the Congress legislature party leader, have maintained that continuation of alliance will be decided by the high command.
However, several top leaders of the party on condition of anonymity had recently said the entire rank and file of the party were happy to end the partnership with JD(S).
The two parties, considered arch rivals, especially in old Mysuru region, had bitterly fought against each other during the 2018 assembly polls but came together to form a post-poll coalition following a hung verdict.
However, the alliance was not accepted by lower level leaders and the cadres of both the parties and this culminated in the open revolt by 17 MLAs of the combine and the fall of the government, paving the way for BJP's return to power.
The then assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar had disqualified 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs under the anti-defection law. They have challenged it in the Supreme Court.
On the three seats represented by the JDS, Gowda said he would field candidates based on local leaders' decision.
Referring to the criticism of JDS by Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah, during the assembly elections that it was a "B" team of BJP, Gowda said no one now say so. "...it is a gone thing now. I gave cooperation despite all these things.
"The point is both the parties had suffered badly on account of remarks against each other (during 2018 assembly polls), what was the use? They had 130 seats with them (in the previous assembly), they got reduced to 78," he said.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
