'Let Yediyurappa complete term, I want to build JDS': Deve Gowda
Bengaluru, Nov 5: Not wanting mid-term polls in Karnataka, JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday said he wants the B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government to complete its term as it would give him time to build his party.
Targeting Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, the former Prime Minister said the Congress may want mid-term assembly polls soon as he was eager to become Chief Minister once again.
I have also said what Kumaraswamy has said.Let Yediyurappa rule the state for three years and 8 months.I don't want to remove Yediyurappa, I want to build the party.
If elections are held tomorrow, do I have the capacity to field 224 candidates, Gowda said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said Siddaramaiah may have that strength (to face mid-term polls), he is AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) leader, I don't know any such leaders.
If elections are held tomorrow for 224 seats will I be able to finalise the candidates? I have said you (Yediyurappa) rule. If I get time I can fight, he added.
Gowdas son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy too had recently said his party would not try and dislodge the ruling BJP government like the saffron party had done to his coalition government and had opined that he did not think that mid-term polls would be held.
Kumaraswamy had cited hampering of development work, also ongoing relief and rehabilitation work in flood-hit parts of the state due to mid-term polls as the reason for his statement.
Siddaramaiah, reacting to Kumaraswamy, has said the latter's statement gave an impression that he would support the saffron party and had recalled that the JD(S) had formed the government with BJP with power sharing formula of 20 months each in 2006.
On Tuesday too Siddaramaiah said Kumaraswamy's recent statement was out of fear that more JD(S) legislators may jump ship to the saffron party.
Responding to a question, Gowda said,You (Yediyurappa) rule the state aptly. Let him (Yediyurappa) rule for three-and-half years, I will get some time to build the party...Siddaramaiah may want election tomorrow, I dont want.
He (Siddaramaiah) is now Leader of Opposition, becoming Chief Minister was the only thing remaining for him, he added.
Deve Gowda, Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy had until recently predicted the collapse of the Yediyurappa government and possibility of mid-term polls in the state.
Gowda and Kumaraswamys statements have come in as a relief for the BJP, which will need to win at least six of 15 seats that will go to the bypolls on December 5, to remain in power.
There is also speculation that JD(S) may extend support to the BJP if it fails to win maximum number of seats in the bypolls.
Amid reports that Gowda had spoken to Yediyurappa over phone recently assuring support, the former Prime Minister issued a statement rejecting it, terming it far from truth.
Gowda during the presser also reiterated that his party that had run a government and contested Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Congress, will contest alone in the bypolls.
After the Supreme Courts verdict on disqualified MLAs, if election happens we will contest...we will not join hands with any one, we will contest separately, he said.
Bypolls to 15 of 17 seats represented by disqualified MLAs, whose resignation and absence from the trust vote led to the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, and made way for the BJP to come to power, will be held on December 5.
The then Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar had disqualified them as MLAs, ruling that those disqualified, cease to be MLAs with immediate effect till the expiry of the 15th assembly (in 2023), which they have challenged in the Supreme Court, and the matter is currently being heard by the top Court.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
