Janata Dal (Secular) leaders, who have been rallying behind dismissed Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, have set August 20 as deadline for party chief H D Devegowda "to repent and rectify the mistake" of sacking three leaders from the coalition government.
The party's national Vice President C M Ibrahim and former minister M N Nabi, addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Wednesday, described the toppling of Siddaramaiah, H C Mahadevappa and Satish Jharkhiholi from the Congress-JDS coalition ministry in Karnataka, as an "undemocratic act".
While taking a dig at Gowda and refusing to rake up another controversy, Ibrahim demanded that the party chief "must make amends to the mistakes committed by the party in recent days" by August 20.
On August 20, a rally has been called by backward classes, dalits and minorities at Tumkur, to express solidarity with Siddaramaiah, who was axed for attending a similar convention at Hubli on July 24, defying Gowda.
Ibrahim, a former union minister, claimed that the Siddaramaiah camp enjoyed the support of 21 members of legislative assembly out of 59, and the number would swell in the coming days as most legislators were dejected over the affairs in JDS.
He also claimed that the Congress-JDS coalition government would collapse in about three months and in the coming elections, the JDS headed by Gowda would be decimated from the existing strength of 60 legislators to a mere four.
Ibrahim accused Gowda of taking unilateral decisions without consulting the National Parliamentary Board or the state executive while axing the ministers.
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