Cong wants Deve Gowda to contest from Bengaluru North: Dinesh Gundurao
Bengaluru, Mar 22: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundurao on Friday said his party wants JDS Supremo H D Deve Gowda to contest elections from Bengaluru North constituency.
"I spoke to Deve Gowda ji and requested him to contest from Bengaluru North constituency... Congress has five and JDS two MLAs, who can ensure his victory," he said.
Gundurao said the former prime minister's representation from Bengaluru North will have a huge impact in the region, given his stature in public life.
The 85-year-old JDS patriarch is yet to decide on contesting the Lok Sabha polls and has been thinking about his "usefulness" in the national capital.
Gowda has said he lacked the strength that he had in 1996, when he became the Prime Minister, but there is "enthusiasm".
Under a pact between ruling coalition partners for Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, Congress has been allotted 20 seats while eight sets will be contested by Janata Dal-Secular (JDS).
Asked if actor-turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late actor and Congress leader Ambareesh, can pose a challenge to the coalition partners due to a possible sympathy wave, Gundurao said winning as an independent is difficult with JDS having a strong presence in state assembly, zilla panchayats and municipalities of Mandya district.
Sumalatha is contesting as an Independent after she was denied ticket by the Congress from Mandya seat which had been allotted to the JD(S).
Gundurao also said that the Congress would make extra effort to see that Nikhil Gowda, grandson of Deve Gowda, registers a win from Mandya constituency.
Asked about the BJP's plan to make "instability" an electoral issue in Karnataka, Gundurao dismissed it as ridiculous saying Modi himself is leading a coalition government at the centre.
Also, the BJP is in alliance with NDA partners in several states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, he said.
If Modi and BJP are against coalition, they should do away with it, he added.
Gundurao said there have been some hiccups in the coalition setup, but the government has been stable.
"Congress-JDS alliance has given a stable government but unfortunately BJP has been making efforts to destabilise it by horse-trading," he alleged.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state Congress chief alleged that Modi "is diverting people's attention from real issues like failure of GST, demonetisation and joblessness, to emotional issues like Ram Mandir and nationalism".
The dialogue of nationalism is very divisive and dangerous as it has already cut India into pieces on grounds of religion, ideologies and nationalism, he said.
"We are seeing people taking law into their hands and killing people including rationalists M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh," he said.
The Congress' efforts will be to expose Modi in all these fronts, he added.
Asked if the BJP was in an advantageous position due to declaration of Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, Gundurao said "the appropriate question is who should not be the prime minister as there are a huge number of people who do not want Modi to continue".
"It will not be easy for the BJP to sell the fake success stories perpetrated in media and social platforms to the people because the truth is that almost all the schemes including Ujwala has not done anything good to them," he claimed.
On the other hand, the Congress had helped people by implementing NREGA and bringing in legislations on food security and tribals right, besides Aadhaar, Gundurao added.
Rejecting suggestions that his offer to Congress president Rahul Gandhi to contest from Karnataka is due to any fear of loss in Amethi seat, Gundurao said it was aimed at strengthening the party in the south.
"There is no design in this. I wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi suggesting he contest from Karnataka as it would strengthen the party in southern states and retrieve the lost charm from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Let us see what decision the party takes," he said.
Gundurao said Rahul Gandhi would address two rallies each in the two phases of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka.
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Congress, Raijor Dal finalise alliance; state party gets 11 seats
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Guwahati (PTI): After days of negotiation and uncertainty, the Congress and Raijor Dal finalised seat-sharing arrangements for the Assam assembly polls, and decided that the national party will leave 11 constituencies for the other one, and there will be a friendly contest in two. In a late-night development on Thursday at Jorhat, leaders of the two parties, headed by state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi, signed the agreement.
Akhil Gogoi will contest from Sivasagar, a seat he won in the last polls while still in prison on sedition charges for allegedly instigating violence during the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.
The Congress had given the Margherita seat to the Raijor Dal. Earlier, the national party had given it to Prateek Bordoloi, who decided not to contest on a Congress ticket after his father defected to the BJP earlier this week.
The other seats to be contested by Raijor Dal are Dalgaon, Dhing, Sissiborgaon, Digboi, Bokakhat, Manas, Tezpur and Kaliabor, while friendly contests will take place between the two parties in Goalpara (East) and Gauripur.
The party has nominated a woman candidate, Gyanashree Bora, from the Mariani constituency.
The opposition alliance now comprises six parties -- Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPI(M), All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) and the CPI(ML).
The Congress has announced its complete list of 87 seats, the AJP in 10 seats while the CPI(M) and APHLC will contest in two seats each.
Gaurav Gogoi thanked the Raijor Dal president, his team, and everyone who worked to ensure the alliance took place.
"It is not easy for a party like Congress to give up seats, but the national leadership agreed in the interest of the state and its future," the Congress state chief said.
''After assessing the ground realities and being satisfied with our answers to the queries raised by the high command, it was agreed that the alliance takes place,” he added.
Gaurav Gogoi said that several sections of the society, particularly some renowned civil society leaders, played a prominent role in ensuring the alliance takes place in the interest of the state and its people.
He appealed to all to work for the win of all candidates put up by the alliance's six parties.
"We have many dreams and aims to create a new Assam where the development of all and not just one person and his family, is ensured," Gogoi said.
People of Assam want to be free of Himanta Biswa Sarma's ''low level of politics'' where he uses fear and threats to intimidate people so he can remain in power, he claimed.
The Raijor Dal president said that they decided to contest the elections unitedly to oust the BJP government, led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, and make Gaurav Gogoi the chief minister.
''People of Assam are dissatisfied with the BJP-RSS as they have changed the social fabric of the state, and there is a need to overthrow Sarma's undemocratic, corrupt and communal government,'' he said.
Akhil Gogoi urged the Jorhat electorate to vote for the Congress president, stating they have a ''historic opportunity to elect the state's future CM and help build a new Assam.
"Jorhat will get a CM, and the entire state will get a youth leader who has made a mark on the national arena," he said.
Raijor Dal is contesting only 13 seats in the interest of the people and the future of the state to ensure that the BJP is defeated, he said.
Akhil also apologised to those from the party who could not get a ticket.
The elections to the 126-member Assam assembly will be held on April 9. Votes will be counted on May 4.
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