Bengaluru, Dec 26: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal Secular JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Saturday vowed to keep the regional party alive and try to come to power 'on its own strength' in the 2023 Assembly election in Karnataka.
He said he wanted to draw the curtains on speculation that the JD(S) would get merged with the BJP.
"I was a former Prime Minister. Will I take the party to somebody else’s doorsteps? Does this make any sense? Which astrologer made this prophecy,” he asked at a news conference in which he mostly attacked the Congress. Let’s not speak so lightly about a political party. This party can’t be wiped out so easily. It’s not just Deve Gowda and his son, but there are other people who will keep the party afloat,” he added.
Asked about the 2023 elections, Deve Gowda said the JD(S) was working towards winning a majority independently, ruling out a merger with the BJP. “Today, that question doesn’t arise. Let’s see what mandate the people are going to give. We’re working towards coming to power on our own,” he added.
Deve Gowda broke his silence on reports that the JD(S) was getting closer to the BJP, especially after the two parties came together to dislodge Legislative Council Chairperson K Pratap Chandra Shetty.
"I asked JDS leader Basavaraj Horatti to file his papers. But he was finally forced to withdraw and this hurt him. He’s a 7-time member. “With just 78 seats, the Congress made K R Ramesh Kumar as the Assembly Speaker. Would that have been possible without our support? All this drama happened because (Congress) wanted to test my secular credentials.”
He alleged that Congress also had switched sides. “Wasn’t Mamata Banerjee the Railway Minister in the BJP government? What happened in Bihar? And, didn’t you form the government with Shiv Sena? When the Godhra incident happened, who misled the Muslims. Let them be true to their soul,” he said and asked if the Congress had “taken the contract of Muslims” just to destroy the secularity of the JD(S).
Deve Gowda said that JD(S) wanted to strengthen the Congress. “It wasn’t my son who went to anybody to become Chief Minister. For his swearing-in, secular leaders from all over India came, including six Chief Ministers. That was a time when the Congress had lost its identity in 18 States. Who spoiled this,” he asked in rhetoric.
He said he had asked his son H D Kumaraswamy, to focus on the party’s organization by forming a core committee of 8-9 senior leaders to take decisions.
Regional parties, he said, had become “inevitable” for the country. “In Tamil Nadu, it’s been 50 years. Biju Janata Dal has won four times. Mamata has won two terms. Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar... We didn’t do this for my family. We’ll keep this party alive,” he added.
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