Men unhappy with guarantees will vote against Congress: G T Devegowda

Bengaluru: Senior lawmaker G T Devegowda, who heads the JD(S) core committee, believes that his party’s alliance with the BJP was necessary to help Narendra Modi get re-elected for a third term. In a chat with DH’s Rashmi Belur, Gowda clarified that the JD(S) will not merge with the BJP. Excerpts: 

You’ve said Siddaramaiah is scared of losing the CM’s post.

The entire state knows this. The Congress high command had instructed Siddaramaiah to give up the CM’s post after two-and-a-half years. But Siddaramaiah wants to complete a full five-year term as this is his last innings. This is why he tries to weaken his deputy (D K Shivakumar) by conspiring against him through lawmakers. Siddaramaiah was behind the demand for more deputy CMs.

Will the Congress government fall after Lok Sabha elections?

In 1983, Ramakrishna Hegde was CM. In the 1984 Lok Sabha polls, his party lost despite being in power. Taking responsibility, Hegde stepped down and went for fresh elections. If BJP and JD(S) win all 28 seats, then automatically Congress lawmakers will feel insecure and they may come to us. But we have no plans
to destabilise the government.

Was an alliance with BJP needed for the JD(S) to win three seats?

The only reason for the alliance is to re-elect Narendra Modi as the PM so that India will be in safe hands. Our party supremo H D Deve Gowda felt that it would be easy to complete all irrigation projects for Karnataka if we strengthen Modi’s hands.

Will the alliance continue even in the future? 

We will join hands with BJP in all the elections. This is the opinion of both BJP and JD(S) leaders. Even people want this. But we’ll not merge our party with BJP.

Dr C N Manjunath had no intention to enter politics. He was handpicked by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

G T Devegowda

Congress is seeking votes based on the guarantee schemes.

The guarantees haven’t reached all people. The guarantees worked for Congress in the Assembly polls because BJP and JD(S) fought the elections separately. Moreover, the male population is unhappy with some of the guarantees, and they will vote against Congress.

Why did JD(S) let party supremo’s son-in-law
Dr C N Manjunath contest from BJP?

Dr Manjunath had no intention to enter politics. He was handpicked by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Based on their request, Kumaraswamy convinced Deve Gowda
and Dr Manjunath’s wife.