Will talk only to Rahul Gandhi, not Congress leaders: HD Deve Gowda

Bengaluru: Janata Dal(S) supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda, who has held preliminary talks with KPCC chief, Dinesh Gundurao on seat sharing for the coming Lok Sabha poll,  on Friday said he would discuss it further with Congress president, Rahul Gandhi. The seat sharing has become contentious with both the Congress and JD(S) insisting on seats like Mandya.

On former chief minister, Siddaramaiah's statement that the seat sharing would be based on the winnability factor, Mr Gowda said he was not sure in which constituencies his party would win. "Besides, that girl (Mrs Sumalatha), I don't know... some people have taken her too far. I don't know what will happen in Mandya,'' he added.

Asserting that his party had no second thoughts about going ahead with a tie-up with the Congress for the Lok Sabha poll, he categorically said, “We are not going to break the alliance. At least, not from my side. We have sorted out issues and the coalition has been running smoothly ever since.”

On his talks with the KPCC chief, Mr Deve Gowda revealed, “Mr Gundurao asked me to talk to Mr Siddaramaiah. I just told him one thing. You and some of your leaders sit with our  state president ( A.H. Vishwanath) and discuss  seat sharing. A section of the media had reported that I was angry. There is nothing wrong in Mr Siddaramaiah saying that (Congress president) Rahul Gandhi would be the next prime minister. Mr Siddaramaiah has also accepted that he met Mrs Sumalatha Ambarish. I have no comments on these issues.''