Alliance with Cong fully Kumaraswamy's decision: Father Deve Gowda

Bengaluru: After the Congress and JD(S) formed an alliance to keep the BJP out of power in Karnataka as the state witnessed fractured mandate, many thought that it was a decision taken by JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda. However, the senior leader has denied this.

According to a report in The Print, when Deve Gowda was asked about the alliance, he said, “It was my son (H D) Kumaraswamy’s decision to go with the Congress. I had no say in it. He took the decision individually. You know how he has been canvassing throughout the state that he will not repeat the mistake of aligning with the BJP. We have all learnt from our mistakes which we won’t commit again.”

The former prime minister seems to be happy that his son is going to be the chief minister of the state for second time. He has also left the decision of deputy chief minister and cabinet portfolios to his son and Congress leaders, the report further said.

Deve Gowda has personally invited Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief M K Stalin, among others to attend Kumaraswamy’s oath-taking ceremony. This is also an attempt to show the BJP that the JD(S) will leave no stone unturned to keep the saffron party out of power in the southern states.

On questions regarding how long the alliance will sustain, Deve Gowda is quite convinced that the two parties will complete a full term.

“The need of the hour is that all secular forces must come together and the country must be saved from the communal and undemocratic party. Everything is shaking in our country, the judiciary, executive and the legislature, and this was the best solution,” Gowda told The Print.

However, political scientist Sandeep Shastri believes that JD(S) and Congress are in arrangement only keeping in view the 2019 elections.

“It is only their anti-BJP stand that is holding them together. On the ground if you see, it is the JD(S) workers who are competing with the Congress, so this is just an immediate arrangement to keep the BJP out,” Shastri said, adding that this alliance will last for a year at least.

The JD(S) chief has also admitted that he is not interested in contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and may hand things over to the younger generation.