Mysuru: Senior JD(S) leader and
Chamundeshwari MLA
GT Devegowda, who defeated former chief minister Siddaramaiah in one of the most high-profile electoral battles that the assembly elections witnessed, on Tuesday exuded confidence of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government lasting its full five-year term under the leadership of CM HD Kumaraswamy.
Devegowda, along with Hunsur MLA
Adagooru H Vishwanath and Krishnaraja Nagar (KR Nagar) MLA
SR Mahesh, is in contention for a cabinet berth. “We will be happy if all three of us get cabinet posts, and be equally happy even if none of us does. We are content to continue working as loyal party workers,” Devegowda said.
Admitting that workers of both the parties, now in an alliance, had worked very hard to defeat the other, Devegowda said, “But the results of the election have changed everything. At an internal meeting, leaders of our party discussed the possibility of fighting the polls again, and it was decided that facing another election at this juncture would not be ideal. So, to keep the BJP at bay, the party decided to forge an alliance with the Congress.”
Dismissing reports of disgruntlement among the legislators about the alliance, Devegowda said, “There are bound to be some teething problems, and they will be sorted out without any trouble.”
Questions about Kumaraswamy’s tenure as the CM, and probable ministers in the government had been discussed by JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister HD Devegowda, CM HD Kumaraswamy and AICC president Rahul Gandhi, and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, disclosed Devegowda denying all unverified media reports about the agreements between the parties being aired and published are far from truth.
BJP’s bandh mocked
Mocking the BJP, which called for a state-wide bandh after Kumaraswamy expressed difficulties over the implementation of a loan-waiver, Devegowda said, “The CM will take a decision on the farm loan waiver within a week.”
Devegowda pointed out that, when the BJP had been in power in the state, the saffron party too had blamed the UPA government at the Centre for not releasing funds. “Earlier, when the JD(S)-BJP coalition was in power, it took more than a year for Kumaraswamy to announce the loan waiver. Considering how the cabinet is yet to be formed, and pending meeting with our coalition partners, Kumaraswamy has sought just one week,” he added.
Devegowda, who bagged the reputation of a giant killer after he defeated Siddaramaiah, tried to play down his victory. “I was expecting to win by a margin of 25,000 votes,” said Devegowda, whose victory margin was over 36,000 votes.
Meanwhile, Hunsur MLA Vishwanath said that differences between the Congress and JD(S) would be set aside, and the two parties would function perfectly as part of the coalition government.
‘I will take corrective measures’
“I will learn from my past experience, and take corrective measures before the next election. I won the assembly elections by a narrow margin because of the support I received from the party workers, including Hassan zilla panchayat member Bhavani Revanna, whom I consider my sister. The reason I won by a very narrow margin was because of caste politics. And minorities did not vote for me because JD(S) was projected as the ‘B’ team of the BJP.”
- SR Mahesh | MLA, Krishnanagar
