BENGALURU: JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda on Friday said that he had no connection with the RSS as claimed by BJP national general secretary C T Ravi and added that had not praised the organisation in the past. Addressing the media at the party office here, Gowda hit out at Ravi for spreading misinformation on social media.
Ravi had recently tweeted how Gowda had a word of appreciation for the RSS in the past and that H D Kumaraswamy should learn about the organisation from his father before commenting on it. Kumaraswamy had recently charged that the RSS, as part of its “hidden agenda”, had created a team of bureaucrats in the country. “There is a limit to telling lies. Except for providing the banquet hall (at Vidhana Soudha) for an event which I had presided over when I was the CM, I have had no relations with the RSS. I had even raised objection when the RSS misused the banquet hall,” Gowda said.
The former PM further added that the work done by the RSS during its formative years was appreciated by everyone and was different from what is being done by it at present. “The work done by Hedgewar’s (founding Sarsanghachalak of RSS) Sangh or RSS was different from the work being done today... there is no relation at all,” Gowda stressed.
Gowda defended his party’s decision of fielding Muslims for the Hanagal and Sindagi Assembly bypolls, saying it was necessary as the Congress was poaching its probable candidates.
“I had groomed MC Managuli and he became a minister thrice. Managuli even erected a statue for me. Now, the Congress has poached his son Ashok Managuli and fielded him from Sindagi. Should I keep quiet in such a situation?” he asked. The bypoll in Hanagal was necessitated following the demise of M C Managuli earlier this year.
Gowda further added that fielding a Muslim in the recent Basavakalyan bypoll was also inevitable. “The late Narayan Rao was also my sishya. Did I groom him considering his caste?” he asked.
Gowda clarified that he had not fielded Muslim candidates with an objective of defeating the Congress. “There are examples of Muslims winning the seats in the past. In Old Mysuru, including Hassan and Mandya, we do not have potential candidates from the community to field,” he pointed out. “I will not tolerate the propaganda against JDS. He (Siddaramaiah) should not forget the past and remember from where he emerged as a leader,” Gowda said, indirectly taking a dig at Sidddaramaiah.
Asked about Congress MLC C M Ibrahim returning to the JDS, Gowda, on a positive note, said the former had enough political maturity to take a decision. He also clarified that he will campaign only in Sindagi to retain the seat.
‘Proposed Kharge for CM post’
Gowda said that he had suggested to Sonia Gandhi after the 2018 polls to make Mallikarjun Kharge the state’s CM and claimed that the latter had agreed. “Since the Congress had won more seats than the JDS, it was embarrassing for us to stake claim to the CM’s post. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad agreed to convince Sonia. If that did not materialise, they were convinced to make H D Kumaras-wamy the CM,” he added. He also termed as unfair the recent detention of AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Uttar Pradesh.