Mangalore, February 24: Former chief minister and JD(S) state president H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday met Bishop Dr. Aloysius Paul D'Souza at the Bishop House her in Kodialbail.
The meeting assumes significance in view of the upcoming bypoll for the Udupi-Chikmagalur Loksabha constituency. The JD(S) has decided to field its candidate for the by-election, but has not announced the name so far.
Mr. Kumaraswamy and the Bishop were closeted for half an hour, but the former chief minister refused to give any details to the waiting media persons. “It was a courtesy visit,” Mr. Kumaraswamy insisted.
He, however, stepped up his tirade against the BJP and the former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and said the BJP leaders were fighting against each other when a number of districts in the northern Karnataka are reeling under severe drought.
Lashing out at some BJP leaders for bringing in the name of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda with respect to the ongoing infighting in the ruling party, Mr. Kumaraswamy said, “it has become a habit for BJP to blame Deve Gowda and the members of his family for everything. They used our name to come to power. Now they are bringing up Deve Gowda's name to tide over the present crisis.”
It may be recalled that the Yeddyurappa camp has been accusing Sadananda Gowda of taking orders from Deve Gowda in matters related to administration.
The former chief minister also dared Sadananda Gowda to come to Dharmasthala and swear before Lord Manjunatha if or not he had received any instructions from the former prime minister.
He also urged the party workers to strive hard to make the party candidate in the Udupi-Chikmagalur by-poll victorious.
“We want to prove our strength. We will certainly field a candidate. The name will be announced on Monday” he said.
According to party sources, S.L. Bhoje Gowda's name has been finalized as the party nominee. “The chances of Bhoje Gowda being fielded as the candidate is 90 per cent,” said an office-bearer of the district unit, who did not want to be named.
A meeting of party leaders from Udupi and Chikmagalur districts had been convened on February 26. Based on their suggestions, the candidate would be announced the next day and the nomination would be filed on February 28, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.
Kumaraswamy said four names were under consideration namely Madhu Bangarappa, S L Bhoje Gowda, Mahendra Kumar and Dharme Gowda.
He asserted the party's leaders had taken this by-poll seriously and refused suggestions that the fight “is a symbolic one”.
"There are rumours doing rounds that JDS would withdraw candidate at last hour. Those are rumors floated by Congress and BJP leaders," he said.
During his visit to the Bishop House, president of the Udupi District JD(S) Deviprasad Shetty, Mr. Bhoje Gowda, District minority cell president D.M. Aslam, among others, were present.
Comments
Add new comment