LS polls: BJP’s Narayana Gowda is in touch with Cong, says minister
As part of the seat-sharing agreement with the BJP, JD(S) will contest the seats of Kolar, Hassan and Mandya. (PTI photo)
Amid reports of some discontent within the BJP over ceding the Mandya Lok Sabha seat to alliance partner JD(S), Karnataka Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy on Monday alleged that BJP leader and former minister KC Narayana Gowda has contact with Congress.
As part of the seat-sharing agreement with the BJP, JD(S) will contest the seats of Kolar, Hassan and Mandya.
Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the BJP, won the 2019 general elections in Mandya.
“Yes, we have spoken to Narayana Gowda, he is in touch with us. At the earliest, he was along with some of the supporters of veteran KR Pete leader – the late Krishna, who was earlier with the Congress and had gone along with Narayana Gowda along with Narayana Gowda for various reasons, are likely to join us,” said Cheluvarayaswamy, the responsible minister of Mandya district.
Speaking to reporters here, he said they can join Congress without any conditions and accept the party’s ideology. After they become members, the party will decide who will be given what responsibility.
“There have been no such discussions under any circumstances. The first round of discussions has taken place, they are in contact, the discussions have not yet reached the stage where we can decide on the date of accession,” he added.
Gowda was earlier in the JD(S). He was among the 17 Congress-JD(S) legislators, who had withdrawn from their parties, eventually leading to the collapse of the then HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July 2019. He had subsequently won the bypolls on the basis from a BJP ticket and served as a minister in the previous saffron party government.
Multilingual actress-turned-politician Sumalatha defeated JD(S)’ Nikhil Kumaraswamy in the previous elections. She had also staked claim on the BJP ticket for re-election from the seat.
Gowda and some local leaders and workers had been pitching for her candidature and had openly demanded that the BJP should not cede the seat to JD(S).
Gowda had created history by recording BJP’s first-ever victory in Vokkaliga bastion of Mandya district in the 2019 Assembly bypolls (in Krishnarajpet). He had suffered defeat in the 2023 parliamentary elections.
Dr. Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, general secretary of the BJP in charge of the Karnataka elections, said on Saturday that the JD(S) would contest from the Mandya, Hassan and Kolar segments.
There are now many speculations within the JD(S) that its state president HD Kumaraswamy is likely to contest from Mandya. The names of his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy and senior party leader and former MP CS Puttaraju are also doing the rounds.
First print: March 25, 2024 | 4:06 PM IST