BENGALURU: Ending days of speculation, JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday offered his party’s “unconditional support” to the Congress in the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
“The JD(S) will not bargain for any posts,” he said, giving his stamp of approval to the efforts of second-line leaders to forge an alliance with the Congress. Addressing a press conference, Gowda said, “We have neither set any conditions nor bargained for anything during our negotiations.”
Ruling out the possibility of the party supporting the BJP, he said, “There is a need to protect the existence of the JD(S) and all decisions are taken in keeping with this line.”
Declaring that he was not going to compromise on the “ideals of the party”, he said, “People from the minorities, dalits and OBCs are among our 14 corporators.”
Referring to his meeting with BJP leader and Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda last week, he said, “He sought our support, but I have not committed anything to him.” He said Sadananda Gowda might not have got the party’s approval to broach an alliance with the JD(S).
Referring to the statement of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge that state Congress leaders would hold talks with the JD(S), Gowda said, “Let Chief Minister Siddaramaiah or KPCC president G Parameshwara talk to state JD(S) president H D Kumaraswamy.”
No Contact Yet
Maintaining that neither had contacted his party, he said the JD(S) position would be announced formally on the eve of the mayoral election, at a meeting of the party’s new corporators, MLAs, MLCs and MPs.
Showering high praise on party candidates for putting up a tough fight against the “money power of the BJP and the Congress”, he said, “We will take their opinion on September 5 before forging an alliance with the Congress.”
Recalling his association with Siddaramaiah when the latter was in his party, Deve Gowda said, “I don’t see any major hurdle to an alliance with the Congress.”
Replying to questions on whether the party would get chairman posts in the BBMP standing committees, he said, “We will accept only what comes to us according to the numerical strength of the party in the council.”
Strongly defending the party’s inclination towards the Congress, he said, “Given the poor governance of the BJP and its misdeeds in the dissolved BBMP, there is no question of supporting it.”
Referring to his party’s MLAs and corporators camping at a resort in Kerala, he said, “I had suggested they remain out of the city lest the BJP lure them.”