Naidu to meet Deve Gowda in Bengaluru today

Ahead of the much-anticipated meet with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy hinted that his father and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda will be the guiding force behind the TDP leader, giving him a push to mobilise Opposition forces for a broad-based alliance.

Speaking to DH on Wednesday, Kumaraswamy also said that though there were differences among national and regional parties, the Karnataka bypoll results had set a tone for these parties to forget rivalries and come together on a common platform.

Naidu will arrive in Bengaluru on Thursday to hold “preliminary” discussions with the JD(S) supremo and Kumaraswamy. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 3.30 pm at Gowda’s Padmanabhanagar residence.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister was also among the many leaders, including AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, to have called and congratulated Kumaraswamy on Tuesday, after the Congress-JD(S) combine won four out of five seats in the bypolls.

“When Naidu called to wish me yesterday, he said he wished to hold talks with Deve Gowda and me. The bypoll results have set the ball rolling. There has been good response from several regional parties who are now open to a rethink on the grand alliance. A good beginning was made during my swearing-in ceremony. But nothing had moved since then. The bypoll results have hopefully changed the mood of all anti-BJP forces. It will surely influence the 2019 elections,” he said.

When asked if Naidu alone will shoulder the responsibility of bringing together so many unlike minds, Kumaraswamy said, “Somebody has to take the lead. Since Deve Gowda is the senior-most leader and an experienced politician in the country, he will help convince the leaders to forget their differences and come together to make the proposed grand alliance a success. There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. After the results also, we can bring several changes. For now, we need to create an environment for the secular forces to come together.”

Justifying his party’s partnership with the Congress, Kumaraswamy said the very reason that the two parties came together was to “give a message to the nation to bring a massive change in
2019”.

“Hence, both the parties, especially the Congress leaders, made several sacrifices for this partnership,” Kumaraswamy said.

Aside from the grand alliance, Kumaraswamy said his other main goal was to ensure that the Congress-JD(S) alliance wins all 28 Lok Sabha seats.

“More than the individual numbers, our bigger aim is to win all 28 seats — there should be a give-and-take policy by both parties.

The alliance will surely improve the numbers of both the Congress and the JD(S) in Parliament. The JD(S) will hundred per cent get more than five seats,” the
chief minister said.