BENGALURU: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who has forged an alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati with an eye on Dalit votes in the state, is working overtime to woo the backward communities and minorities ahead of the assembly election. The JD(S) national president is holding parleys with Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav to campaign for JD(S). “Deve Gowda has held preliminary talks with Mulayam Singh and invited the latter to campaign. We are expecting a positive response from Mulayam.
Our efforts to draw the huge OBC voter base would get a big boost if Mulayam agrees to campaign. A clear picture will emerge in the next few days,” JD(S) MLC Ramesh Babu told The New Indian Express. JD(S) has formed a team of OBC leaders at the state-level headed by former minister PGR Sindhia to intensify its campaign to draw the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) towards the party, and Gowda is keen to get Mulayam on board to address at least a few OBC rallies to be organised by JD(S) in the coming days. According to Ramesh Babu, efforts are on to get former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar as well to campaign for JD(S).
Upbeat after striking the poll pact with BSP, the JD(S) leadership is preparing for a massive rally to be addressed by BSP supremo Mayawati and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. The rally to be held near Yelahanka in Bengaluru on February 17 would see 5 lakh people, Ramesh Babu claimed.