Though some veteran Congress leaders have expressed interest in aligning with the JD(S) to reform the alliance if the BJP fails to get the required number of seats in the Dcember 5 bypolls, JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Monday made it clear that his party had no such plans.
“My party and I have suffered owing to our alliances with the BJP and the Congress in the past. That is why there is no question of forming an alliance with any of them,” he told presspersons at Sambra airport in Belagavi.
Urging the media not to indulge in speculation, he said: “Now I am busy in building my party organisation by touring the State. We will not be part of any alliance”.
Asked to clarify his statement on the longevity of the B.S. Yediyurappa government, Mr. Gowda said he did not hint at supporting the government.
“We know why the coalition government fell. I know that the tactics used by these two parties are the same. Let us not get into that. I have only said that the government will not fall as it has 105 MLAs and it will survive till the Opposition moves a no-confidence motion against it. That is all I have said. I am not in a hurry to bring down the B.S. Yediyurappa government,” he said.
Commenting on the coalition government in Maharashtra, he said that this was the first time where the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress, and the Shiv Sena were coming together.
“It is a new experiment. If they move ahead without problems, it will be successful. I hope it will succeed,” he said.
He said he was upset with the way the government had handled flood relief. “It is a tragedy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not even conduct an aerial survey. Any PM should have done it,” he said.
Mr. Gowda said he was considering leading a delegation of farmers to New Delhi.
“That is all I can do now. Now I am outside Parliament. People have taken away that right. But I have no bad feelings about that. I will sit in dharna at Jantar Mantar. I may appeal to other parties to join my struggle. I will seek an appointment with the Prime Minister to help farmers. I will take some farmers with me to the PM’s office. I will ask him to solve the problems of farmers and release higher flood relief compensation. I will argue before the Union government that all States hit by natural calamities, should get special relief packages,” he said.
He felt that the alleged neglect of agriculture and reckless spending on other irrelevant issues had led to the downfall of the economy.
“If the GDP is 4.5% today, the prime reason is the neglect of agriculture. We are seeing that the Union government is spending money recklessly on other items. That is uncalled for,” he said.
He cited, as examples, the loan waivers and other sops to the corporate, the manufacturing, the auto, the service, and other sectors.
“This should be the worry of economists and agencies like the NITI Ayog. They should be giving advice to the PM. But I don’t know if the PM is taking their advice or not,” he said.
“Yesterday, Rahul Bajaj said that people are afraid to comment on the government’s actions and that there is a fear among those who are critical. It is a very serious comment,” Mr. Gowda added.
