BENGALURU: JDS patriarch and former PM H D Deve Gowda, who is 87 years old, is campaigning for his party candidate Ammajamma at the Sira Assembly constituency ahead of the November 3 bypolls. Gowda, who is planning to stay in the constituency till November 1, visited a number of villages and also addressed an election rally in Sira.
Gowda said both the Congress and BJP are targeting the JDS. “I will be here for the next 10 days and will give replies to them one by one. I am not scared, and I cannot be misled. When I was the CM, nine constituencies in Tumakuru had JDS MLAs. In the last election, the number reduced to four, and of them, B Sathyanarayana passed away. Both the Congress and JDS are targeting us because we have fielded his wife Ammajamma,” he added.
On JDS leaders quitting the party, he said that some might have joined other parties, but he is not ready to give up. “Both the national parties seem to be working towards finishing off this regional party. The BJP may have the money power to strike us with, but the JDS workers’ enthusiasm will ensure victory for the party candidate,” he said, impressed with the large turnout at Dodda Aladamara near Kallambella.
Asked why Gubbi MLA S R Srinivas is not campaigning, Gowda said that he has tested Covid-positive. “One need not give any political colour to his absence,” he said. “Siddaramaiah says that H D Kumaraswamy’s tears should not be taken seriously. But he should know that because of Deve Gowda’s tears, he became a deputy CM and not H D Kumaraswamy,” Gowda hit back, reminiscing over the 2006 JDS-Congress coalition government. “Deve Gowda came to politics a long time back and Siddaramaiah joined much later, 20 years later,” he said.