With less than two weeks to go for the Lok Sabha elections, there seem to be disagreements within the Karnataka coalition government. While chief minister Kumaraswamy said a ‘chakravyuha’ has been hatched against his son by the Congress, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda stepped in to clear the air and said there is no misunderstanding
Tumakuru: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who is the national president of the JD(S), has expressed his faith in the strength of the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka. He said both parties are working in unison without any misunderstanding for the Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a rally in Tumakuru, Gowda said, “In this country, all regional parties do not have a good understanding with national parties, but we have a good relationship with the Congress and are running the (Karnataka) government without misunderstandings. We have to work together to reduce the power of BJP in Karnataka.”
Reacting to this, Karnataka BJP spokesperson S Prakash said, “Everyday we hear of instances of mistrust within the coalition. People from within the coalition have come out and exposed the rift. If Deve Gowda is in denial mode, it just goes on to show how helpless he is.”
Prakash further added that three of Gowda’s family members are in the Lok Sabha election fray and are staring at defeat.
Gowda spoke of BJP’s social media presence at the Tumakuru rally, wherein he said that the BJP is making use of social media to change people’s opinion about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Social media and electronic media are changing people's opinion about Modi and they are giving much importance to him and imposing an opinion that no leader is like Modi. Our youth is capable to understand it and they can make change by working together. I can tell what all happened to the minority and Christian communities, but I don't want to discuss on that issue in this stage,” he said.
To this, Prakash retorted, “We are using social media to convey our vision. There is no bar on them to use it as well. If they are incapable of using the tools, then complaining about it will get them nowhere.”
Gowda’s statements about no misunderstanding within the coalition come just days after where he had himself said that there are issues within the alliance.
Following this comment, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy stated that Gowda had spoken the truth and further added that the Congress had hatched a plan, like that of the Mahabharatha’s ‘Chakravyuha’ to trap his son in the Mandya seat.
The Congress will contest on 20 seats and the JD(S) the remaining eight as part of the seat-sharing agreement reached between the two parties for the total 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 17 seats from Karnataka while the Congress bagged nine seats and JD(S) got two seats.
Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka will be held in two phases, on April 18 and 23. The counting of votes will be done on May 23.
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