Sadananda Gowda keeps suspense going; Vijayendra says he won’t quit

B Y Vijayendra told reporters that issues concerning Gowda would be resolved and he would remain in the party.

Amid growing buzz around Bangalore North MP D V Sadananda Gowda’s next move, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra on Tuesday claimed that the former chief minister would not quit as the party was making all efforts to retain him.

Vijayendra told reporters that issues concerning Gowda would be resolved and he would remain in the party. 

“Suddenly, Congress is showing more interest in leaders of our party. They will not succeed in their design to lure our leaders,” Vijayendra said.

During the day, Gowda abruptly cancelled his press conference in which he was supposed to spell out his future course of action. He visited the Vokkaligara Sangha to hold talks with its office-bearers.

After the meeting, Gowda said he will announce his decision on Wednesday. 

“I have already told you (media) all that I was approached by Congress and at the same time, BJP leaders were in touch with me,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Vokkaligara Sangha president D Hanumantaiah told reporters that the community would not tolerate sidelining any of its community leaders by any party.

“The BJP, without ascribing any reason, is denying tickets to Vokkaligas. We are not against BJP per se, but such attitude should be stopped. We have decided to stand by leaders like Gowda, C T Ravi and Pratap Simha,” he said.

Hanumantaiah said the Sangha had decided to create awareness among the community.

“If any party tries to humiliate Vokkaliga leaders, the community should opt to press NOTA on the EVM, instead of casting votes in favour of someone else,” he said. 

Asked about Gowda joining Congress, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar was not direct.

“This is common in politics. BJP didn’t given tickets to Ayanur Manjunath and M P Kumaraswamy. The JD(S) fielded them. Our party didn’t field Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, so JD(S) took him in. We gave tickets to Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi after they quit BJP,” Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress president, said.

“We welcome those who come accepting our ideology. I don’t want to disclose our strategy,” he added.