Business Standard

Results will show I am not spent force, asserts Deve Gowda

His 52-year experience in politics had enabled him to assess waves

BS Reporter Mysore
Results of the Lok Sabha elections will prove he was not a spent force, Janata Dal (S) supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda asserted today here in Mysore.

Those who thought that the JD(S) was facing extinction, would be in for a surprise after the Lok Sabha elections as it would prove Deve Gowda is not a spent force, he said.

Conventions and rallies being organised by the party has reinvigorated the confidence of workers who were disheartened over the defeat suffered by the party in the Mandya and Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituencies. Besides, he could not pay much attention to the party as he was bed-ridden.
 
But, various conventions like party’s women’s convention in Tumkur, Yuva JD(S) convention in Bangalore or the backward classes convention in Mysore and in Ramanagara had bolstered the morale of the workers and the party because of the response it had received, he claimed.

Dismissing the Modiwave as being non-existent, Gowda described it as a media creation though there was no such wave. Alleging that the BJP was spending Rs 500 crore to manipulate a wave in favour of Modi, he charged that corporates were financing those programmes.

Voters, who were aware of this propaganda, would decide if the Modi-wave was genuine or not.

He charged the then Gujarat government of failing to provide security to him during his visit to that state post-Godhra in 2002. Recalling the Gujarat incident, Gowda said it had occurred when he was taking oath after winning the by-election.

The former PM attributed delay in announcing the party candidates and said JD(S) had to wait for other major parties to announce their candidates so that it could chose the winnable candidates who are the right ones. “Even the Congress and BJP have announced their candidate lists in four installments,” he said.

Referring to the Third Front, Gowda, whom his party workers are projecting as the future Prime Minister of the front, said Congress had not won majority in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal over the last few decades and the regional parties were coming to power in succession.

His 52-year experience in politics had enabled him to assess the impact of waves like the one being generated by the BJP as people have not forgotten the Godhra incidents. “I am certain of the Third Front coming to power,” Gowda said.

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First Published: Apr 04 2014 | 8:35 PM IST

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