BENGALURU: After12 years, friends-turned-political rivals JD (S) supremo HD Deve Gowda and Congress leader Siddaramaiah came together to address a joint press conference on Saturday urging their party cadre to work unitedly to defeat the BJP in November 3 bypolls to three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats in Karnataka.
"We have decided to bury all differences and work together to defeat communal forces in the country," former PM Deve Gowda said while addressing a joint press conference with Siddaramaiah and other Congress leaders. "We have committed mistakes in the past and we will appeal people to pardon us for our mistakes as we have decided to make a fresh start to protect the country from communal forces," Gowda said.
Admitting that in many constituencies the party workers are still not comfortable with the JD (S) and the Congress alliance, Gowda said they are confident of convincing workers from both the parties of the need for unity among secular forces. "This is the new beginning. We will go before people together and that would create a new atmosphere in the state," he added.
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Congress and the JD(S) workers will work together to ensure that secular votes are not split. "Division of secular votes will help communal forces and we have come together to avoid such a situation," he said.
Senior leaders from the Congress and the JD(S) will campaign together during the bypolls. Of the five seats, the JD(S) candidate are contesting from two Lok Sabha and one assembly segment, while the Congress is contesting from remaining two seats.
"We will win all five seats including three Lok Sabha seats and this is a foundation for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. We have already decided to face the 2019 general elections together and win all 28 seats in the state," Siddaramaiah added.
Show of unity among the top leaders is intended to bring workers together as Congress is facing discontent from its local leaders, especially in the constituencies where it is supporting its alliance partner JD (S). Both Congress and JD(S) leaders hope that joint press conference and campaigning by Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah will help to unite workers at grassroots levels.
Though the Congress and the JD (S) formed a coalition government in the state after recent assembly elections, Gowda and Siddaramaiah had not come together on a single platform or addressed a joint press conference. Siddaramaia had left Janata Dal led by Gowda in 2006 and joined the Congress.