No doubt mid-term polls will happen in K'taka: Gowda

Bengaluru: In a sign of growing tensions in the ruling alliance in Karnataka, former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda Friday said there was no doubt there would be mid-term polls to the state assembly.

Gowda also said he did not know how long the Congress-JD(S) government, headed by his son H D Kumaraswamy, would continue and it was in the hands of the senior coalition partner.

"There is no doubt that there will be mid-term polls. They (Congress) had said they will give support to us for five years. I am watching all the developments and their behaviour. Our people are intelligent enough. We need not have to teach them," he told reporters here.

Gowda's salvo came amid reports that Congress Legislature Party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah had conveyed to party president Rahul Gandhi that the alliance was causing damage to the grand old party and it became clear in the recent Lok Sabha polls' outcome. See P6