JD(S) will stay in NDA, asserts Deve Gowda

The alliance of Janata Dal(S) with the BJP is strong and the party will continue to stay in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the future, the former Prime Minister and party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda said in Vijayapura on Friday.

He was speaking at a rally organised to celebrate 25 years of the founding of the party.

“Some people may say we may not stay in the NDA. That is all false. We are in the NDA and will stay here. We are part of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has power and the capacity to lead this country to a bright future,” the former PM said.

Mr. Gowda hoped Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will become the next Chief Minister. He traced his term as Prime Minister, Chief Minister and the tenure of his son [Kumaraswamy] as Chief Minister and said that they both have taken several pro-people steps to develop the State.

“Mr. Modi knows about loan waiver, the Gram Vastyavya [village stay] and all that. He knows which set of leaders is right to lead Karnataka. He knows fully the good governance that was given by Mr. Kumaraswamy, as Chief Minister. A day will come when Mr. Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah will choose the right leaders for the government here. They are politically mature and understanding leaders. They understand the political support offered to them by Janata Dal(S). It is left to the two leaders to make Mr. Kumaraswamy the next Chief Minister of the State,” he said.

“On the one hand, Mr. Modi is travelling the world and across India to strengthen the nation and on the other, the Congress workers are holding shirtless protest,” he said.

“I have seen several governments. The current Congress government is the worst I have seen in my life. I am 93 years old now. Some people may think this old man will stay at home. But I am not like that. I will travel the State and rebuild the party. One day, I will go. But before that, I am sure I will see a pro-people government installed better than the one now in the State,’’ he said.

Mr. Gowda said as Chief Minister, he had inherited an empty exchequer due to the misrule of the earlier governments. “But I did not sit quiet. I raised bonds to run the State government. Later, as Prime Minister, I started the Accelerated Irrigation Programme that helped speed up projects across the country, including the Almatti dam in North Karnataka,” he said.

“Today, people of the North Karnataka region are getting water facilities because of the initiative taken by me when I was Chief Minister and later, Prime Minister. I never compromised on the interest of Karnataka,” he said.

He urged the people to fight for including the UKP third stage in the gazetteer and assured them that he will join the protest in Parliament or outside. Decades ago, some people asked me to join the Congress. “But I refused for ideological reasons. I wanted to build and strengthen a regional party,” he said.

Party leaders Nikhil Kumaraswamy, G.K. Krishna Reddy, Mallesh Babu, Venkatrao Nadagouda, MLAs Alkod Hanumanthappa, Karemma Naik, Devanand Chouhan, B.D. Patil, Hanumant Mavinmarad and others were present.