BENGALURU: Having forged an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) in Karnataka, JDS supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda on Wednesday assured protection for Minorities in Karnataka and said “Let we form a Government with any party but in my State protection to minorities is assured.”
At a joint press conference with his son and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru, Devegowda stated that secular credentials of his party have not been “let down” for political gains and said “Now the question is protection of Minorities after alliance with BJP and the former Prime Minister added that “We have not let down secular credentials in the past nor will do in future."
He recalled his party’s alliance with BJP in Karnataka in 2006 and stated that two Muslims leaders were murdered in Mangaluru then and the culprits were arrested and the accused persons were awarded life imprisonment and intervening at this juncture Kumaraswamy stated “The incident showed JDS commitment towards Minorities (protection).”
Devegowda said that he had discussed with 19 MLAs and 8 MLCs of JDS on forging alliance with BJP in Karnataka for Lok Sabha polls of 2024 while Kumaraswamy stated that all developments of the party were brought to the notice of State JDS chief C.M. Ibrahim.
Gowda accused the Congress party of destroying secular forces in the country for its selfishness and questioned the Congress party, “Who is responsible for (JDS) forging alliance with BJP?” To the Congress leaders, he asked “Is it Kumaraswamy?” and recalled a statement made by former Prime Minister of All India Congress Committee Rahul Gandhi accusing JDS of being ‘B’ team of BJP.
The former Prime Minister questioned the Congress party "Who removed Farooq Abdullah as the Chief Minister for Jammu and Kashmir?"
Holding Congress party responsible when Congress and JDS were in alliance in Karnataka, Gowda also pointed out at the defeat of his Rajya Sabha nominee Farooq, an industrialist and stated “Who got Farooq defeated?” He asked “Did the high command initiate action over the defeat of the JDS nominee” and his other question to the Congress leaders was “Do the high command exist?”
Devegowda made it clear that JDS allied with BJP not for “opportunistic” politics but to save a regional party for which he had strived for over 40 years and stated that so far JDS has not discussed with BJP leaders on seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls.
In West Bengal, some left leaders joined hands with BJP to defeat Trinamool Congress party leader Mamata Banerjee, Gowda said and questioned “Where is the sanctity (in politics)?”
