BENGALURU: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Thursday was elected unanimously as the JDS national president for yet another term. The decision was taken at the party’s two-day national executive committee meeting which began in Bengaluru on Thursday. An official announcement in this regard will be made on Friday, JDS sources informed The New Indian Express.
The 89-year-old senior leader has been the JDS supremo for a record 23 years since its inception in 1999. Delegates from as many as 13 states insisted that Gowda remain as JDS party president, sources added. The move assumes significance ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka and the 2024 General Elections, and elevation of Mallikarjun Kharge as the Congress president.
The executive also passed resolutions befitting the party’s secular credentials besides safeguarding the interests of farmers, Dalits, youth, women and Minorities. “JDS will remain equidistant from both the national parties with regards to communally sensitive issues,” a source said.