Gowda dismisses threat to expel him from JD (S)

Dismissing the possibility of his expulsion from the JD (S), former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has asked the JD (S) leaders planning the move to study the party constitution before issuing such statements.

Gowda, who is also the national President of JD (S), told reporters in Mysore that the senior party leaders, who had threatened to expel him from the party, were ignorant of the party’s constitution. “I wish they had gone through the constitution before making such a statement. I will reply to them in detail at an appropriate time”, Gowda said.

Gowda was reacting to the reported move by senior JD (S) leaders including M P Veerendra Kumar, Surendra Mohan and P G R Sindhia, all national council members of the party, to expel Gowda for his continued support to the Karnataka Government headed by his son H D Kumaraswamy in coalition with the BJP.

Karnataka’s JD (S) unit has also ridiculed the threat to expel Gowda from the party. “It is just an outburst of a handful of leaders and there is no legal validity to it”, JD (S) spokesperson and MLC Y S V Datta told reporters.

The expulsion drama was a farce and politically motivated to help the Congress candidate and former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the ensuing byelections to the Assembly from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysore. “It is no more than a ploy to create confusion in the minds of the voters”.

Meanwhile, Gowda, who is the midst of campaigning for the JD (S)-BJP joint candidate for the by-polls in Mysore, has reiterated his commitment to the welfare of the minority community.

Swearing by secularism, Gowda claimed that he was the architect of reservation to the Muslim community in India. “As a Chief Minister of Karnataka in 1995, I was the first one to introduce four per cent political and educational reservation to Muslims”, Gowda said.

Though he was campaigning for the JD (S)-BJP joint candidate for the ensuing by-elections, Gowda still maintained that his son had formed an alternative Government in Karnataka with the BJP “without his consent”.

“I never gave my consent to the formation of JD (S)-BJP Government. The issue is still before the disciplinary committee of the party”, Gowda said. But, Gowda said his son was forced to align with the BJP in Karnataka to “save” JD (S) from the Congress.