BALLARI: After 12 long years, the political master and his prodigy — H D Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah — shared a stage to campaign for common candidate V S Ugrappa for the Ballari LS bypoll, in Kudligi on Monday. Despite a galaxy of senior Congress leaders adorning the stage, the loudest cheers from the 3,000-strong crowd went to Gowda, JD(S) national president, and Siddaramaiah, Congress Legislature Party chief.
Flags of JD(S) as well as the Congress flanked the venue of the joint campaign, the first of its kind for the scheduled November 3 bypolls.While Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, D K Shivakumar, B K Hariprasad and Satish Jarkiholi kept the crowd engaged, it was ultimately Gowda — who arrived an hour later — and Siddaramaiah who were left on the stage to keep each other company, apart from the coalition’s common candidate Ugrappa. Gowda even had a word of praise for Siddaramaiah’s tenure as chief minister.
As if to send a message across to the BJP that has been criticising the coalition as an alliance of convenience, Siddaramaiah and Gowda displayed bonhomie greeting each other, shaking hands and sitting next to each other and engaging in conversation every now and then. The show of unity was the duo’s way of declaring that from now on it would be a joint attack on the BJP.
Brought together by compulsions of coalition politics after years of no-holds-barred rivalry, Gowda and Siddaramaiah led the joint campaign of Congress and JD(S) to regain the Lok Sabha seat.
Asserting that it was a unanimous decision of both Congress and JD(S) to make Kumaraswamy the Chief Minister to keep the communal forces away from power, Gowda said, “That was the beginning of the change. After this, leaders of different political parties came together and contested the bypolls in various parts of the country by putting up a united fight. Due to this, the BJP could win just one seat in 12 bypolls.”
Advocating the need to bury the differences between Congress and JD(S), he called upon the cadres of both parties to fight unitedly to ensure victory for coalition partners in all the five seats in the bypolls in the state. “It is not enough for us to unite just on this stage. It should happen even in all the rural areas where our party workers have differences with each other,” he said. “It will have a huge impact on the forthcoming assembly polls in the six states. This will ensure the victory of Congress-led alliance in the 2019 polls and exit of Narendra Modi,” he added.
Gowda expressed confidence that the popular programmes initiated by Siddaramaiah, when he was the Chief Minister, and Ugrappa’s image and people’s unhappiness with Prime Minister Modi and BJP will ensure them a victory.Gowda was scathing in his attack on the BJP and Modi’s style of functioning, accusing his administration of disrupting social harmony in the country. He pointed out that Kashmir is facing a never-before unrest after the BJP dumped Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Siddaramaiah was satirical in his attack on BJP, when he lashed out at Janardhan Reddy over his statement that he was a victim of Siddaramaiah’s conspiracy. “Has he forgotten the Lokayukta report? Did he amass huge property without indulging in illegal mining?” he questioned.Stating that people are disappointed over the 15 years of BJP rule in Ballari, he said that Congress candidate Ugrappa is a better bet compared to BJP candidate J Shantha.
Congress floor leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarajuna Kharge reminded the people about the party’s effort in ensuring special status to Hyderabad Karnataka region. District in charge Minister Shivakumar said that
Ballari has no voice in Lok Sabha and Ugrappa being an educated politician will be the voice of Ballari
at the Centre.