Deve Gowda defends pact with BJP, says Congress has ‘no moral right’ to rebuke

With the Congress attacking the ‘secular’ credentials of the JD(S), former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday defended his party’s decision to ally with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls next year. 

Addressing a news conference, Gowda asserted that he has never done politics by “compromising” his secular ideology. 

“Congress leaders have no moral right to talk about JD(S). The JD(S) is not politically opportunist. The pact with the BJP is not opportunist. We agreed for the alliance with BJP to save the regional party. I’ve worked 40 years to save the regional party. There’s no greed in this,” Gowda said. 

The Congress has been targeting the JD(S) ever since its alliance with the “communal” BJP was announced earlier this month. 

Gowda said no political party in India is spared when it comes to ties with the BJP. “If there’s any political party in the country that’s not associated with the BJP, then let it be known. Let it be made public what happened in West Bengal to defeat Mamata Banerjee. Who joined hands with whom?” the JD(S) supremo said. 

“I’d like to ask those big leaders questioning my secular ideals: who defeated B M Farooq (now an MLC) when he contested for a Rajya Sabha seat?” Gowda said, targeting Congress. 

Maintaining that there was no need to say that the JD(S) had compromised on its secularism because of the alliance with BJP, Gowda said his party would continue to protect minorities. “Even if we form a government with the BJP, we won’t let the minorities down. Our stand on protecting minorities will continue,” he said, responding to Muslim leaders quitting the JD(S). 

Accusing Congress of destroying the JD(S), Gowda blamed senior Congress leaders for the collapse of the coalition government in 2019. 

When asked if the alliance with BJP would force JD(S) MLAs out, Gowda said: “The alliance was discussed in the initial stage with all our 19 MLAs and eight MLCs before heading to New Delhi.”

On seat-sharing, Gowda said it is yet to be discussed. “The BJP’s parliamentary board will first deliberate,” he added. 

Meanwhile, JD(S) legislature party leader H D Kumaraswamy recalled the offer from the BJP to form the government after the fractured mandate in 2018. “If I had joined hands with the BJP, I could’ve been the CM for five years,” he said.