Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Sunday announced that the JD(S) would take out padayatras on the Krishna, Mekedatu and Mahadayi river disputes even as he sought to answer critics who do not see a future for the regional party.
“As a regional party, our intention is to safeguard our state’s interests,” Gowda, the JD(S) national president, told a news conference.
“Our party has decided to take out a padayatra from the Almatti dam, whose height is to be raised to 524 m. For Mekedatu and Mahadayi, we will have similar programmes,” Gowda said. “These are inter-state waters, but the fate of our state is such that we’re stuck in the middle,” he said.
The veteran said the agitation will be held after the upcoming session of the legislature scheduled September 13-24. “Symbolically, we will start on a day,” Gowda said. “The Congress and the BJP have a problem, which is that those ruling in Delhi can’t take up such protests,” he said.
Gowda also brought up criticism that his party was fading away. “It is being said that the JD(S) doesn’t matter and that the party won’t have an identity in 2023. We will struggle, fight and save our identity to come to power. And, as a senior leader, I will join the party’s fight. It’ll be difficult for me to take up a padayatra, but I will do other things,” he said.
The party supremo was non-committal when asked whether the JD(S) would join the ongoing effort to bring the Opposition parties together to take on PM Modi.
“There are only two national parties - Congress and BJP. The regional parties are confined to their respective states. M K Stalin, for instance, can’t be an all-India leader. H D Kumaraswamy, a two-time CM, is an established leader here. K Chandrashekhar Rao is in Telangana,” he said.
Noting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent demonstration by cycling to Parliament, Gowda said: “There’s much distance for him to travel.”
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