BENGALURU: He will turn 82 soon, but rather than walk into the sunset, the paterfamilias of JD (S) H. D. Deve Gowda is getting ready for another battle after the one scheduled for April 17 against well-heeled leaders of Congress and BJP who, the former Prime Minister, alleges are ganging up to defeat him and his colleagues in parliamentary polls.
Mr. Gowda, who commenced the interview with an admission that his party was in distress financially, vowed to stave off the challenge from both Congress and BJP not only in parliamentary polls but those to the Legislative Assembly four years hence.
"It is my dream, my aspiration to bring my party to power in Karnataka. So, I will fight the next Assembly elections. Age is not an issue, but it is my commitment to serve the people. Mr. Advani is older than me, but he has never spoken of retirement because he wants to serve the nation. So why should I retire?" he asked.
He said leaders of regional parties were more experienced and therefore better qualified to serve as the Prime Minister rather than Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. "He has proved himself as Chief Minister, and is touring the country but that does not mean he will become the Prime Minister. How can he become the Prime Minister if the NDA does not win 273 seats? I have told the leaders of United Front that we will decide the Prime Ministerial candidate after all our parties put together win 273 seats. I am not in the race for the Prime Minister's post. I will be happy to play the role of a senior colleague and help the government address problems," he added.
Mr. Gowda was acerbic about Congress leaders too, asking how they could claim to wipe out his party when their party was diminishing across the country. "Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should provide water to farmers instead of splitting the backward classes to gain votes or launch populist schemes like Anna bhagya or Ksheera bhagya. I think neeru bhagya is more important because our farmers do have not water today,” was his lament.
