Gowda ‘sees’ union of secular forces after poll results in five states

There are possibilities of secular regional parties getting united after the five-state election results are announced, said former Prime Minister and JD(S) Supremo H D Deve Gowda.

He was speaking to reporters at the New Circuit House in Mangaluru ahead of ‘Swabhimana Abhiyana’, the JD(S) workers’ convention held at Kallapu, on Saturday.

Stating that in national politics, it is difficult to come to power without the help of the regional parties, he said anything might happen after the five state elections.

This might be the reason why serious efforts are being made to finish the secular regional parties, he said.

The JD(S) supremo said that starting from Mangaluru, he will tour through the state during the year to strengthen JD(S) further so that it can compete with the national parties in the upcoming elections.

One should remember that JD(S) had once won 16 parliamentary seats in the state, he added.

He said he does not need any certificate from anyone on how secular he is. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement in Hassan that Deve Gowda is the B-Team of BJP, resulted in erosion of JD(S) votes and gave an advantage to BJP during the elections. Also, in Mandya, Rahul had stated that Deve Gowda should come out clean.

“The young leader is trying to grow politically,” said Deve Gowda.

‘Centre not responding to state's aspirations’

Expressing his discomfiture on the lack of empathy from the Central government towards the development projects in Karnataka, H D Deve Gowda said that the assurances by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not seen in his commitments.

“The demand of IIT to Hassan has not been fulfilled despite me personally meeting and requesting the PM. Also, the facilities given to Karnataka by the Centre are meagre compared to Tamil Nadu, particularly in the recently announced ‘Pancharatna’ river-linking project, he said.

H D Deve Gowda observed that the reason for the same is that there is no unity among MPs in Karnataka, unlike in Tamil Nadu.

Other river projects such as Upper Bhadra and Upper Krishna third stage too, need the Centre’s attention and grants, he said.

To a query, H D Deve Gowda said that H D Kumaraswamy is expected to contest from Ramanagara in the next Assembly elections.

Replying to a question, he said he does not know what are C M Ibrahim’s plans.

“Ibrahim had held high posts in the state JD(S) in the past,” he recalled.

Deve Gowda said that he had taken a vow earlier when he was severely infected with Covid-19, that he will visit the shrine if he gets better and therefore visited Kukke Subrahmanya Temple.

Leaders Sadashiva, B M Kunhi, M B Farooq, Sushil Noronha, Yogish Shetty and Akshith Suvarna were present, among others.

‘Some forces trying to create unrest’

Regarding the current situation in the coastal districts and in the state, H D Devegowda said it is impossible to pinpoint who is at fault. It has been a practice followed by some forces in coastal districts and in Chikkamagaluru, to create controversies.

He recalled that when he was the chief minister, he was targeted in connection with an issue at Idgah maidan. Even though the government tried to create peace by convening a meeting with the leaders of both factions, they disagreed to find a solution as they wanted the controversy to be alive.

Similar is the case with Datta Peetha. The people who are creating controversies are doing this only to gain political mileage, which is unfortunate, he said.