In bed with BJP, Gowda is Left ally

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Thiruvananthapuram: JD (S) all-India president Deve Gowda whose party courts BJP in Karnataka, had no qualms in teaming up with the Left in Kerala to demand the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the solar scam.
Just last week BJP candidates M Krishnappa from Bangalore Rural and R Ashoka from Mandya constituencies allegedly withdrew from the fray in favour of the JD(S) and to facilitate a direct contest between Gowda’s party and the Congress. JD(S) has fielded Gowda’s daughter-in-law and Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha who owns a TV channel, from Bangalore rural constituency.
Pitted against Congress strongman D K Shivkumar’s brother D K Suresh, the JD(S) is not taking any chances. The JD(S) has promised to return the favour by helping the BJP in the forthcoming Legislative Council elections.
It was quite strange to see Gowda sharing the stage with top Left leaders CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and Sudhakara Reddy, who consider BJP as one of their main enemies. For public consumption though, Deve Gowda has been claiming that as national president he has not authorized his son to enter into any kind of understanding with the BJP. The former Prime Minister came to Thiruvananthapuram in private plane and spent just 20 minutes before leaving for Mysore.
‘Gowda toiled for kin, not Vokkaligas’Vinay Madhav I Dc
Bengaluru: ‘Toy town’ Chennapatna, a key assembly segment in the Bangalore Rural parliamentary seat, saw Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launching a full blooded attack on his former mentor and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda as the campaign for the bypoll gained steam with just a week of campaigning left. Polling is scheduled for August 21.
Gowda too was in Chennapatna, house hopping and  talking to local leaders while Siddaramaiah addressed public rallies, coming down heavily on the JD(S) and dubbing the party communal for joining hands with BJP which has pledged support to JD(S) candidates. He termed his former party as opportunistic and dynastic.
Training his guns on Gowda, the CM said the former PM, for the sake of his daughter-in-law (Anitha Kumaraswamy), had shed his secular credentials. “All that matters to Gowda and his family members is winning the election by hook or crook. They do not mind joining hands with anyone, including communal forces like the BJP,'' he said.
Taking a dig at Gowda's credentials as a Vokkaliga community leader, Siddaramaiah said he had never allowed any Vokkaliga leader to grow in politics. “All he wanted was to foster his family members and he used the Vokkaliga community for that,'' he said.
Gowda did not address meetings, instead meeting grassroot level workers, visiting temples in the taluks and interacting with local leaders like gram panchayat and taluk panchayat members.