HD Deve Gowda to counter BJP B team' dent before LS polls

Hassan: Almost a year after All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi made a scathing attack on Janata Dal Secular (JD-S), accusing it of acting like the “B” team of BJP, JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Sunday defended Mr Gandhi saying the Congress president did not make the statement on his own, but read from a chit given to him by some state Congress leaders.

JD(S) sources said that Mr Gandhi’s “B” team remark cost the JD(S) a major chunk of minority votes and the party ended up with only 38 seats in the Assembly. “The community felt that the JD(S) had joined hands with the BJP and voted against the party to keep communal forces out of power,” they said.

With the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, Mr Gowda wants to take the “B team” dent off the party’s image and is organising a massive convention of minorities at the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru on January 17. Over one lakh people are expected to take part.

“The convention will be a stage for the party to list the contributions made by JD(S) for the welfare of minorities. After the convention, the party will organise a meet for women,” Mr Gowda said.

After the seat sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls is over, the coalition partners Congress and JD(S) will embark on a joint tour of the state to campaign for party candidates, he said.

On fielding his grandson Prajwal from the Hassan parliamentary seat, Mr Gowda said that he wishes to field Prajwal, but the announcement will be made after holding talks with party leaders and MLAs.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s alleged statement that he was a mere clerk in the coalition government, Mr Gowda said that in a coalition setup, some charges do come but it was not right on the part of Mr Modi to give a different spin to Mr Kumaraswamy’s statement.