JOIN USExpressing displeasure at the father-son duo’s (H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy) unilateral decisions in setting directions for the Janata Dal (Secular), the party State secretary general Abdul Azeem has written a letter to national president Deve Gowda, raising objections over the party not fielding candidates for the upcoming byelections in the State.
In his letter, Azeem has said that the decision to not field candidates was not brought to the notice of the party’s parliamentary committee, which is the decision-making body for electoral affairs.
“Your decision to not field candidates was never conveyed to me or the chairperson of the parliamentary committee, H C Neeravari, at any point of time. It has deeply hurt our sentiments. Kindly tell us which forum was utilised to convey this decision to the party workers,” asked Azeem in his letter.
Unilateral decisions
The former MLC, who contested unsuccessfully in the Assembly and parliamentary elections, has also said that the unilateral decisions are not befitting the party’s future. He has appealed to Gowda to consider all the party leaders as his son and not let emotions guide his judgement in deciding the future of JD(S).
Azeem has also criticised the JD(S)’ decision to support real estate developer Kupendra Reddy’s candidature to the Rajya Sabha and send T A Sharavana to the Legislative Council.
“The two people who have been supported are just PUC and SSLC pass candidates. One is a land developer and the other is a gold merchant. How can you expect learned public representatives from the party to share the dais with such candidates. In fact, kindly tell us when did Khupendra Reddy join the party officially,” asked Azeem.
Personal ‘fiefdom’
Several other senior leaders are also said to be moving away from the JD(S) due to the Gowda family converting the party into their personal ‘fiefdom’.
While Neeravari is said to have almost ‘retired’ from active politics and concentrating on writing a book, JD(S) floor leader Basavaraj Horatti has decided to stay away from the JD(S) decision-making, as his views were not being given any importance.