Even though the party leadership is strongly in favour of the Janata Dal (Secular) aligning with the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections, former Minister G.T. Deve Gowda, who heads the party’s core committee, said the party supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda is yet to take a final decision on going with the saffron party.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Friday, Mr. Gowda, who is also a JD(S) MLA representing Chamundeshwari Assembly segment in Mysuru, said the party legislators and former legislators, besides other leaders, who attended a recent meeting in Bengaluru, had unanimously sought an alliance with the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha polls, citing “highhandedness” of the Congress leaders in various constituencies of the State.
The participants in the meeting claimed that they were unable to tolerate the oppression of the Congress leaders. “They said the Congress should be defeated in the coming Lok Sabha elections. If the Congress has to be defeated, we have to join hands with the BJP”, Mr Gowda said quoting the participants in the meeting.
He said the JD(S) leaders attending the meeting were of the opinion that the JD(S) will not survive if the Congress is allowed to prevail in the Lok Sabha elections in the State.
Mr. Gowda said the party’s national president gave a patient hearing to the woes of the party leaders and assured to take a decision keeping in mind the interests of the party workers with whose help he had built the party over the last couple of decades.
Mr H.D. Deve Gowda has assured to do whatever it takes to save the party and will take a decision in consultation with former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and party’s state unit president C.M. Ibrahim.
However, Mr. Gowda clarified that there was no discussion on the share of seats for each party or the names of candidates to be contesting the elections. He said the party will be holding a workers’ convention on Sunday, that an estimated 20,000 people will attend. The event will serve to exhibit the party’s strength and lend courage to party workers across the State.
Citing instances of Congress highhandedness, Mr. Gowda claimed that about 10 to 15 JD(S) workers had been sent to jail over a petty issue in Periyapatna. The Congress leaders were threatening the officials with transfer if they refused to do their bidding, he alleged.
He complained that the JD(S) workers were facing a climate of hostility in their respective constituencies and were unable to bear the “oppression” of the Congress leaders.
