Former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda has ruled out any truck with the ruling Congress in the ensuing elections in Karnataka. Addressing a Press conference at coastal town of Mangaluru on Monday he said that the JD(S) would have no electoral understanding with the ruling Congress in the coming Karnataka Assembly election as it had “burnt its fingers” in the past aligning with the national party.
Gowda in a surprise move much against the speculation that he would truck with the Congress he made it clear that he would not go with the Congress in case of a hung Assembly. He said, “We have burnt our fingers going with the Congress and not at all interested in having any truck with the Congress. We are also not interested in forming a Government with the Congress’s support if the results threw up such a probability of hung Assembly.”
As there is a speculation ahead of Karnataka assembly polls that in case of a hung assembly, the regional party JDs led by former Prime Minister HD Devegowda would play a major role, and this has surprised many. The Congress and the BJP were “only discussing communal issues” and were turning a blind eye to people’s issues, including the problems being faced by farmers, he said. This is going to a big news for the BJP which is trying all possible effort to make Congress Mukth Karnataka. Karnataka is crucial for both the ruling Congress and the BJP.
Gowda said the JD-S would contest in all the 224 assembly seats in the State, of which some seats would be spared for the left parties.
The party had not yet decided whether to seek the support of the Social Democratic Party of India, which had backed it in the last elections. On the controversial statements made by Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde on the Constitution and Dalits, Gowda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should control his Ministers.
Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has said it will contest the assembly elections in Karnataka, but it has not yet decided on how many seats. Pankaj Gupta, the General Secretary of AAP
in Bangaluru said his party also would contest the Karnataka Assembly polls. He said “This is the right time for our party to contest
the forthcoming assembly polls as our survey shows that people of Karnataka are looking towards us as credible alternative. We have decided to contest the polls but on how many seats it is yet to be decided”.
In 2013 Congress had won 123 seats in the 225 seats to form the Government. JDs and BJP had won 40 seats each. The BJP was reduced to 40 from 122 due to the rebellion by the lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa, whose KJP had secured six seats. Yeddyurappa had later joined the BJP along with four legislators.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen had announced their entry long back, but they haven’t said how many seats they will contest. It is believed that the AIMIM will be eyeing all those constituencies where Muslim candidates had won in the previous election and they will try their luck in those constituencies as well where Muslim voters are more or less dominant.
The Mahila Empowerment Party led by Hyderabad-based social worker Dr Nowhera Shaik will also enter Karnataka elections. Apart from them, Deputy Superintendent’s Anupama Shenoy’s Bharatiya Janashakti Congress, Sandalwood Cine star Upendra’s Prajnavanta Janata Paksha and Kolar legislator Vertur Praksh’s Namma Congress will also try their luck in the forthcoming assembly elections.