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Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha will make a better prime minister than her Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi. This comes close on the heels of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee cosying up to Jayalalitha.
His reasoning is that the AIADMK supremo had “strong-armed” the Centre over the Cauvery water-sharing row with Karnataka, while there was infighting in the Karnataka government when water-sharing became a contentious issue not so long ago.
In a free-wheeling interaction with Deccan Herald, the former prime minister said the Third Front could not be written off. The chances of a leader from Karnataka becoming prime minister in the near future were bleak, he said.
Jayalalitha’s USP was her experience in administration, he said. Gowda said she and DMK chief Karunanidhi have been able to ensure that not a single worker leaves his or her respective party, which he (Gowda) could not do.
Gowda still believes that the post-poll scenario could throw up different possibilities and pre-poll differences could be ironed out, in the light of the AIADMK’s alliance talks with the Left parties going awry.
The 11-party bloc could think about the prime ministerial candidate after they cross the magic number of 272, Gowda said.
He did not rule out the Congress supporting the Third Front, while making it clear that they would function as opposition as a bloc, if Modi were to indeed get the required numbers, post-elections.
Gowda said the JD(S) was hoping to release the names of candidates for all the 28 seats in the State in one go. He said the names for most of the constituencies were ready, but permutations and combinations were being worked out for some constituencies. The JD(S) would focus on 12 to 15 constituencies where it has a strong base.
On whether the party is likely to field his daughter-in-law Anitha Kumaraswamy again, after having lost twice before, Gowda said there was no alternative.
“Given the pressure of the party workers for fielding Anitha, I will leave the decision to the party on whether they want her to contest,” he said. No final decision had been taken on fielding Nandini Alva from Bangalore Central, the former prime minister said.
On the possibility of Yeddyurappa’s associate V Dhananjay Kumar being made the JD(S) candidate from Dakshina Kannada seat, Gowda said Kumar had to come back to him after taking a decision to join the party.
DH News Service