January 4: Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Saturday implied that his contesting the mid-term polls was not a certainty.In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express here, Deve Gowda said that it was ``up to the party'' to decide whether he should contest. ``If the party decides that I should only campaign, then I will do that.
Contesting the election is not compulsory for me'' he added.
Asked which constituency he would choose if he did join the fray, he said the party would decide that as well. He refused to confirm rumours that he would be contesting from Kanakapura, a seat which is currently held by his son H.D.Kumaraswamy. The latter has reportedly announced that he himself would not be contesting from there.
Gowda's statement comes in the wake of the recent reports of fissures within the JD arising out of his conflict with various party MPs led by Union Minister R.L.Jalappa. The issue came to a head on Friday, when Jalappa threatened to quit after efforts for a compromise
failed. Gowda, however, dismissed the suggestion of a split in the state Janata Dal as a result of these developments.
On whether Lok Shakti leader Ramakrishna Hegde would be a catalytic factor in consolidating any breakaway groups, he said it was not going to happen.
Asked to comment on the likely meeting between Congress president Sitaram Kesri and Hegde during the latter's forthcoming visit to Delhi, and the possibility of an alliance between their two parties, he was explicit, saying that that was ``not a possibility''.
Pressed further about the likelihood of a split in the state Janata Dal, in the event of a Hegde-Congress alliance and a resultant exodus into Lok Shakti, he said ``it is mere gossip''.
Deve Gowda was restrained about his party's prospects at the hustings.
``Our performance will not be bad,'' he said and refused to speculate on the number of seats the Janata Dal could expect to win in the state. ``We are contesting all 28 seats'' was all he said. On how many they hoped to win,
he said ``It is always with hope that we go to the people''.
He said the Janata Dal would chalk out its own election manifesto, as would the other UF constituents. However, the UF would simultaneously go to the polls with a Common Minimum Programme (CMP). When asked what the ideological platform of such a front would be, Gowda said the ``CMP will be based on our common ideology which will directly reflect the problems of the people''.
He disagreed that the absence of common ideological ground, might mean that the regional constituents of the UF might look for post-poll alliances with other political parties in the absence of a clear majority for themselves. ``It will not happen,'' he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
