H D Deve Gowda asks Congress not to take his party for granted

With strain showing up in the ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka, former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday issued a terse warning to the Congress not to take his regional party for granted.

“Six non-NDA parties may have attended the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy as chief minister to present a united opposition, but it is not necessary that they will contest together in all states in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” Gowda told reporters in New Delhi.

In a show of unity, top leaders of the Congress, TMC, BSP, AAP, CPM and TDP had attended the ceremony in May in Bengaluru.


Gowda said the Samajwadi Party and BSP are still discussing sharing of 40 seats each in the general elections in Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal, TMC and Congress have almost reached a consensus to fight together. But in other states, including NCP in Maharashtra, TDP in Andhra Pradesh and TRS in Telangana are yet to take a stand.

“Only in Karnataka, we have decided to fight with the Congress, despite having small differences. So far, there hasn’t been any discussion on this issue. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Kumaraswamy will discuss and finalise and I will also meet some non-NDA leaders in the coming days to apprise them, “ he said.

In the same tenor, Gowda also pitched for a Lok Sabha seat for its alliance partner BSP. “We have decided to give away one parliamentary seat in Karnataka to BSP. In return, I will ask BSP to give one seat in Uttar Pradesh to K Danish Ali (JD(S) secretary general). In Kerala, LDF will give one seat to us,” he added.

The JD(S) leader also clarified that he was not in New Delhi to meet Congress leaders and complain against former CM and Congress-JD(S) coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah, but to attend a meeting of a parliamentary.

Lok Sabha polls in November?

Calling for the early formation of a Third Front, Gowda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have given enough indication of advancing the Lok Sabha elections from April next year to November-December this year, to coincide with the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

“We (non-NDA allies) need to form a Third Front at the earliest to take on the BJP,” he added.