No pre-poll alliance, Deve Gowda says JD (S) will go solo in Karnataka polls

Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister and patriarch of the Janata Dal (Secular) HD Deve Gowda on Saturday ruled out the possibility of his party entering into a pre-poll alliance with any political party in Karnataka ahead of the 2023 state Assembly elections.

His remarks came amid speculations doing the rounds that the JD (S) can strike a pre-poll alliance with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state for the next year's polls.

"I would like to tell you that we are not at all thinking about alliances. We will sit in the Opposition and we will try to build the party," said Deve Gowda.

With regards to recently concluded polls in Punjab, the former Prime Minister argued that the year-long farmers' agitation fueled the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

"The farmers' agitation and the manner in which the protests against the three farm laws was dealt with and also the internal politics of Congress led to the rise of the AAP in Punjab," he added.

The AAP bagged a landslide victory in the Punjab polls, winning 92 Assembly seats, pushing most of its rivals to the margins. Congress won 18 seats in the 117-member Assembly.