My relationship with Modi not limited to RS seat, says HD Deve Gowda

Bengaluru: JDS national president HD Deve Gowda on Wednesday said his relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was neither linked nor limited to Rajya Sabha nomination.

“My relationship with Modi has been personal for the last 10 years. I have defended his leadership. I told Kumaraswamy (union minister), you should be with Modi. I do not have a relationship with him just for the Rajya Sabha seat; I have a personal relationship with him,” Gowda, also a former prime minister, told media persons after speculations swirled of the BJP denying Rajya Sabha renomination to Gowda.

His term as Rajya Sabha member will expire on June 25, and the JDS veteran has been engaged in active politics since 1960, beginning his political career in Hassan district. The Congress began attacking the BJP after the national party named M Nagaraj as its nominee for the RS, describing the development as a snub to Gowda.


But both Gowda and Kumaraswamy clarified that they never requested for the RS seat. The former PM said, “I think there is no other leader who can compete with Modi. Our economic strength has increased. Not only in our country, but Modi's influence is also abroad... There is no need to think that the NDA relationship will end because of a Rajya Sabha seat. This NDA bond will continue till my last breath."