Will save coalition govt at any cost, says Deve Gowda

On a day his son and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had yet another emotional outburst and lambasted the Congress, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda said he would strive to save the coalition government till the last moment of his life.

Speaking to reporters after former JD(S) MLA Y S V Datta took charge as the campaign committee chairman, Gowda said he had decided to align with the Congress to ensure the survival of secular forces in the country.

“I have understood politics. I have the tolerance and endurance to address the threats to the government. Both the Congress and the JD(S) have the ability to address the grouses of their partymen. I know why the Congress legislators have hailed Siddaramaiah, but I don’t want to talk about it," the former prime minister said.

Stressing the importance of regional parties in the country, Gowda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to destroy the ideals enshrined in the Constitution by Dr B R Ambedkar.

“In order to ensure that such values are saved, regional parties and secular forces should survive in the country. I am too old to organise the party now. Modi has showed the dangers the country will face if there are no regional parties. That is why I have tolerated all the pain. If none of the regional parties survives, it will be impossible to fulfil the aspirations of our Constitution,” he said.

Later in the day, Gowda summoned Kumaraswamy to the party office and asked him not to resort to emotional outbursts and give public statements in haste. The former prime minister asked his son to have patience.

Sources said the former prime minister also asked Kumaraswamy to refrain from making politically motivated statements, especially in the light of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Threatening to resign from his post at such a juncture would send a wrong message to the electorate, especially when the non-BJP forces were aligning together, he is learnt to have said.

Gowda is also said to have asked his son to ignore remarks, even if it is from the coalition partner, Congress, and focus on governance.