Candidates of three major political parties from Bangalore North constituency – C Narayanaswamy (Congress), D V Sadananda Gowda (BJP) and Abdul Azim (JD-S) – on Friday tried to find fault with each other and project themselves as the capable candidates.
Participating in an interaction with media persons, Narayanaswamy said BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has no influence in the State. He cited the 2013 Assembly election campaign as an example. The BJP lost badly wherever Modi campaigned. So there is nothing called Modi wave and it is only a creation of the media, he added.
The interaction was organised separately for each of the candidates. Gowda said Modi is a capable leader and has proved that he can deliver. So the party has nominated him as the PM candidate. He denied that the party leaders have gone to the extent of worshiping Modi nor any senior leaders of the party have been sidelined.
On the internal fighting in the State BJP, Gowda said there was now a role reversal with the State BJP fighting the polls with an united face, while Congress was a divided house. He expressed confidence that the party would win at least 20 seats in the polls.
JD-S’ Azim said neither the Congress nor the BJP candidate is competitor to him. Narayanaswamy does not enjoy the support of the entire Congress party as he joined it recently, while Gowda is an outsider to the constituency, he stated and claimed that he is a capable leader as he, as a former police officer, has administrative experience.
Congress candidate Narayanaswamy said he is a native of Bangalore North constituency. Though he joined the Congress recently, the party leaders overwhelmingly supported him in the internal polling held for selecting the party candidate. He said he quit the JD(S) as the party went against the secular principles he believed in. The JD(S) entered into an understanding with the rival party (BJP) in the byelections in 2013, he alleged.
He also said he never expected to be a candidate. He tried his luck and contested in the primaries, which he won. He said his principal rival is BJP’s Sadananda Gowda.
Sadananda Gowda claimed that the people of the State had forgiven the party for its bickerings when it was in power and had given it a chance for a new beginning. The bickerings and three way split in the party had cost the BJP dear in the Assembly polls of 2013.
“We have realised from our mistakes and we will not repeat the same,” he added.Azim said Siddaramaiah is trying to garner the support of his old Janata Parivar friends in the Congress and hence he not only brought Narayanaswamy to the Congress, but got him the ticket to contest from Bangalore North constituency.
The Congress denied the ticket to leaders like Jaffer Sharief who was in the party for over four decades. On the other hand, Narayanaswamy who joined the party about five months ago, was given the ticket. The Congress men are as a result upset with the party, he added.