Deve Gowda lashes out at Rahul Gandhi; says JDS will get majority in next Karnataka polls

Amid massive rumours that JDS is in talks with BJP, former PM HD Deve Gowda has said that his party will survive and won't ally with any other party. He also reiterated his son Kumaraswamy's statement that his party workers are preparing to contest elections alone and get a majority in the next Assembly elections in Karnataka. Gowda also lashed out at Congress for stating that JDS has lost its lustre and slammed Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, saying that he must stop talking about JDS. 

On alliance with BJP, Gowda said, "Which astrologer has said it? ..these are childish talks...I was a former Prime Minister. Will I take my party to someone's doorsteps?" He added, "Since the last three months several things have been said about our party, it can be called an entertainment programme. JDS is a regional party and the pain behind saving and building a regional party will only be known to its workers, office bearers and its head."

Coming down heavily on Congress, he said, “Some people are questioning my commitment to secularism. When Kumaraswamy was sworn in as chief minister, secular leaders from across the country attended the event. But who was the person who played in the background to ensure that the coalition government did not continue? In the last Assembly election, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called JDS the ‘B’ team of BJP. Who made him give such a statement? I know what happens in Congress, but I don’t want to speak. It’s better they stop making irresponsible statements about our party."

READ | Kumaraswamy 'to Work For Clear Majority'; Clarifies On Alliance With BJP Amid Speculation

On rumours of alliance with BJP

Amid rumours that JD(S) will ally with BJP, Kumaraswamy said that there is no such plan, while also claiming that every party 'needs JD(S)' but betrays them later. He also said that he wants to work hard for the next two and a half years to get a clear majority. He went on to say that everyone backstabs JDS after getting benefits from the party. Earlier, Kumaraswamy had remarked that while the JDS would never think of a political merger, it may extend issue-based support to the BJP in the coming days in public interest. He also hit out at the Congress party for calling JD(S) a 'B team' of the BJP saying that it was the Congress that had come to its doorsteps to seek an alliance with him after polls. 

READ | Days after Kumaraswamy's spat with Cong, JD(S) supports Karnataka govt's land reforms bill

JDS with BJP and Congress

BJP and JDS had formed a coalition government in 2006 with Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister and Yediyurappa as his deputy, under a power-sharing formula of 20 months each. However, the government had collapsed as JDS did not transfer power to BJP, which later went on to win the next assembly elections and form its first-ever government in the south. Similarly in 2018, JDS allied with Congress but on 23 July, 2019, his 14-month-old government fell, after 17 of its legislators resigned and were eventually disqualified under anti-defection laws. In Lok Sabha polls, the alliance of JDS and Congress won one seat each while the BJP won 25 out of the total 28 seats in the state, after which it announced their breakup. This had come after constant griping at each other, which had even witnessed a tearful Kumaraswamy express his regret about having drunk from the poisoned chalice of coalition government.

READ | 'JD(S) May Extend Issue Based Support To BJP, Never A Political Merger,' Says Kumaraswamy