‘Cannot commit same mistake twice’: HD Deve Gowda on poll alliance with Congress in Karnataka

Manglore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Sep 18, 2019: Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has said that if mid-term elections take place in Karnataka, his party will contest alone and not tie-up with the Congress. Predicting mid-term polls in Karnataka, he said on Monday, "There are chances of mid-term polls in the state. If they come, let’s contest independently without going for an alliance with anyone", , Yahoo reported.

 

 

He said that contesting the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress was "a mistake" and the party will not repeat it. "Will not still commit that mistake. Let us face all the elections independently," he added.

His remark comes days after engaging in a blame game over the collapse of JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state. Last week, he had indicated his party was still open for continuing its alliance with the Congress as he hinted that he was open for an electoral pact with the Congress in 17 assembly constituencies where bypolls will be held in the near future. The bypolls have been necessitated following the disqualification of rebel MLAs.

In the general elections held in April-May, the Congress and JD(S) had contested the elections together but won just two seats while the BJP went on to pocket the remaining 25 parliamentary seats.

Within days of the debacle, more than a dozen MLAs of the ruling coalition resigned. The state government of the Congress-JD(S) later collapsed after it failed a trust vote.

Gowda, 86, had last month said that the Congress had been wrong in making his son HD Kumaraswamy Chief Minister without consulting its strongman Siddaramaiah. However, Siddaramaiah had said that Gowda’s comments were politically motivated and were false. He had even said that Gowda never allowed someone else to grow.

"They JD(S) do not even let people from their own caste grow. I have friends in all castes and in all parties," Siddaramaiah had said.

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly was delivered with a hung verdict post-elections in May 2018. The Congress extended unconditional support to the JD(S) to gain the majority in the 224-member House. The Congress-JD(S) government collapsed in July this year after more than a dozen MLAs from the ruling camp resigned.