Hassan: A day after former Union minister C.M. Ibrahim took potshots at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah amidst reports that he was hobnobbing with the JD(S), former PM and president of JD(S) H.D. Deve Gowda on Sunday remarked that any leader who is interested in bringing a regional party to power in the State, was welcome to join the JD(S). He however made it clear that he would not instigate any leader to join his party.
Mr Ibrahim, now vice-chairman of ths state planning board, had praised Mr Deve Gowda for his model of governance and had also said that Mr Siddaramaiah had failed to rise to people’s expectations.
Mr Gowda disclosed here at a press conference here that his former party colleague, Mr Ibrahim, now in the Congress, is in touch with him to join his party while former minister P.G.R. Sindhia who was previously in the JD(S), has agreed to join the party in the coming days. He clarified that he had not spoken to former Union Minister V. Sreenivas Prasad who recently quit the Congress nor had he tried to get him into the JD(S). “Power has to be equally distributed among all communities and not confined to a particular individual,” he said.
On the prospects of JD(S) in the 2018 Assembly election, Mr Gowda said that his party will contest all 224 assembly seats and was confident of winning more seats in both north Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka than in the previous polls. Pinning hopes on former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy who has decided to stay at Hubballi in a bid to strengthen JD(S) in the region, Mr Gowda said there is a feeling among voters that they should support a regional party. Asked about the Mahadayi water dispute, he wanted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to initiate talks with his Maharashtra counterpart to resolve the issue amicably.
He was hopeful that the water dispute could have been settled if the Chief Ministers of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra had come together for a mutual discussion. Mr Gowda, wife Chennamma and family members visited Hassanamba Temple and offered prayers at the temple.
