New Delhi: JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda Tuesday took on the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, terming the poll guarantees made by the ruling party in Karnataka as “unproductive” and aimed at achieving “short-term gains”, even as he showered Prime Minister Narendra Modi with praise, saying no other PM had given him as much “love and affection”.
Deve Gowda’s remarks come a day ahead of the Karnataka government’s planned stir at Jantar Mantar in the Capital against the BJP-led central government’s tax devolution policies, where it has sought the participation of not just Congress MLAs, MLCs and MPs from the state, but the legislators of other parties, including Deve Gowda, as well.
What is also significant is that the former PM’s words of adulation for Modi have come at a time when the BJP and JD(S) are working out a seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
On Monday, Karnataka BJP chief B.Y. Vijayendra said, following a meeting with party workers in Bengaluru, that the party high command would announce the names of candidates for all 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
The JD(S) had joined the BJP-led NDA in September 2023, months after the Congress captured power in Karnataka, dislodging the BJP.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, while participating in the motion of thanks on the President’s address, Deve Gowda said: “Tomorrow, they (Karnataka Congress government) are going to have a big rally. They have invited all of us to join the rally. This type of expenditure they are going to incur in so many so-called guarantees which are unproductive and for short-term gains. I have never done it, even though I was (prime minister) only for 10 months.”
His speech drew opposition from Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain.
When Hussain pointed out that even PM Modi had made similar guarantees ahead of last year’s elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Deve Gowda retorted, saying: “The PM’s guarantees are something different, I know that.”
In his speech, the JD(S) supremo, who served as PM between June 1996 and April 1997 in the United Front government, also demanded Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for Karnataka’s Kadugolla community.
It was in this context that Deve Gowda praised the PM, while claiming that the latter had “made a categorical promise” that the Kadugollas would be classified as STs.
He said both the Congress and BJP-led state governments in the past had forwarded recommendations to the Centre in this regard.
“On the day I met him, he (Modi) showed so much love and affection. I have not received that much affection in the past. I have met several PMs. For the first time when I met him in the new (Parliament) bhavan, he gave so much love and affection. On that day I made my request on the Kadugolla issue. He immediately said it was going to be cleared… I am appealing to the PM. He made a categorical promise. Let this matter be decided,” Deve Gowda said.
While the Kadagulla community is spread across 13 districts of Karnataka, they are primarily concentrated in five districts, including Tumkur and Chitradurga.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: ‘Chalo Delhi’ — Karnataka joins Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana to protest Centre’s tax devolution