BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was not invited for NASSCOM conference held here on Tuesday, got support from unexpected quarters — Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda, who slammed the organisation for its “biggest insult to the state.”
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Mr Gowda said, “The organisation should realise that the Chief Minister is the representative of six-crore people. I condemn this incident very seriously.” The Chief Minister also received wholesome praise from his mentor-turned-foe on allocation of funds for developmental projects in north Karnataka ever since he assumed charge as the finance minister in 1994.
“I know what he has done for development of North Karnataka. I can never say that he has done any injustice to that region,” Mr. Deve Gowda said.
Taking umbrage to state BJP president Prahlad Joshi’s statement that Mr Deve Gowda and his son and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had done precious little for north Karnataka, Mr Deve Gowda urged the government to constitute a committee similar to one headed by the late economist Dr D.M. Nanjundappa.
‘Let the committee study implementation of recommendations of Dr Nanjundappa committee and come out with suggestions as to what more has to be done. Besides, let the committee come out with statistics as to how much has been done for north Karnataka’s development during each Chief Minister’s tenure,” he said.
JD(S) to contest all seats in ZP,TP poll
Mr Deve Gowda said that the Janata Dal (Secular) would contest from all constituencies in the elections to zilla panchayats and taluk panchayats in December 2015. “No one need suspect about any internal or external understanding with any other political party due to recent developments, post-BBMP elections.
“The elections will be fought on the party symbol and Janata Dal (Secular) will field candidates in all constituencies,” the former prime minister said. Mr Deve Gowda said that he had convened a meeting of party leaders of all districts on October 15, to discuss the strategy for elections. The party would constitute eight to ten teams, which would tour the state ahead of these elections, the formerprime minister said.
