Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SB)
Mangaluru, Jan 22: JD(S) president and former Prime Minister Deve Gowda on Monday January 22 announced that his party will hold a peace rally and a conference in the city next month. He also ruled out the possibility of a coalition between the JD(S) and the Congress to form the next government in the state.
Addressing a press meet at Circuit House here, Deve Gowda said, "We had planned to hold a peace march in Mangaluru last year, but due to imposition of Section 144 (in mid 2017), we decided against it. We will now hold a party conference and peace march here in February.
"We do not claim to have a stronghold in the coastal region, but I have instructed all the local leaders and members to strengthen the party in this region," he added.
Commenting on the upcoming state elections, he said, "We will contest all the 224 Assembly seats in the state. We will be sharing some seats with the Left parties. Our party is already a part of Kerala's communist government. During the last elections we sought support from the SDPI, but I do not want to say anything about this year's elections at the moment.
"We are not interested in forming a government with the Congress or even take its help. I have already experienced the effects of friendship with this party," he asserted.
In a veiled dig at the Congress and the BJP, he said there are more issues just communal problems to discuss. "I do not do politics in communal issues. My party has its own principles, based on which we work for the society. Besides communal issues, there are a lot of issues to discuss. We have strongly expressed our views on Cauvery and Mahadayi issues, and problems facing farmers in the state. We have never done politics in religion or incidents which put families in sorrow."
Commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "I respect Narendra Modi and his office, because he is our Prime Minister. It does not mean I have a soft corner for Modi
Referring to controversial statements by union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde, he said, "Modi has experience of being chief minister for two terms and now he is the PM of India. He needs to control his ministers. He should give proper guidance to his ministers on how to speak in public."
On the recent defection of two MLAs from JD(S) to BJP, he said, "We have already submitted a complaint to the Assembly speaker seeking disqualification of the two MLAs who left our party and joined the BJP. They joined the other party even before their resignation was accepted. We do not know what step the speaker will take."
JD(S) state general secretary B M Farooq, JD(S) district president Mohammed Kunhi, MLC candidate Ashwin Pereira and Azeez Kudroli were present.