Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Saturday said the coalition government partner Congress should “treat them well” irrespective of the number of seats his party has won in the Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Gowda told reporters here that his party would discuss the issue of seat sharing in Karnataka with Congress leaders and come out with a consensus formula. “We will not take any extreme steps over the issue of seat sharing. But, there should not be any hurdles in working this out for the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Reiterating his party’s wish to contest at least 12 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, Mr. Gowda, however, said, “The party may settle for a reasonable number of seats with the Congress without stretching too much as it would harm the JD(S)–Congress coalition government.”
Referring to the delay in issuing notification on nominations to various boards and corporations, he said, “Some differences have cropped up over the nominations to boards and corporations. In a coalition we should sit together and discuss such issues. The JD(S) is discussing the nominations of its members and will soon come out with a list. We will try to give representation to all communities, including minorities and women. The list will then be submitted to coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah for ratification.”
