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“I am yet to make up my mind on contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha election,” said HD Deve Gowda, former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)] supremo.
Addressing a joint Congress-JD(S) press conference, Gowda said: “I am assessing my importance in Delhi. Will take a call in due course of time.”
Deve Gowda recently vacated his home turf — the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka — in favour of his grandson Prajwal Revanna (son of Karnataka PWD minister HD Revanna). He has offered another Vokkaliga bastion, the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, to his other grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy (son of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy).
Now, speculation is rift that Gowda is likely to contest from Tumkuru or North Bengaluru. “He is just assessing the Congress-JD(S) coalition mood and coordination,” said a JD(S) party worker.
Joining issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Mahagatbandhan , Gowda said: “Modi is mocking and talking ill about our grouping. But they themselves are running coalition governments in many States. In this election, we will show the BJP our strength by winning the maximum seats,” he added.
United front
After taking instructions from party president Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, met Gowda on Monday for election coordination. A full meeting under the chairmanship of co-ordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah, HD Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, State minister DK Shivakumar and JD(S) MP Kupendra Reddy took some decisions on election coordination
After the meeting, senior leaders of the Congress-JD(S) coalition in the State came together in show of unity, following days of confusion and disgruntlement over seat sharing and choice of constituencies. The two parties vowed to put up a strong fight against the saffron party and reduce it to a single digit from the current 16 seats it holds.
Gowda said: “We have resolved all our difference and now we are displaying our strength against our ‘common enemy’ — the BJP.”
The Congress-JD(S) senior party office-bearers announced that they will commence election campaign by holding a massive public rally on March 31.
Both the parties said they were committed to defeating the “divisive, communal and anti-democratic” forces in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections. The rally will be held in the Bengaluru-Mysuru region.
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