Siddaramaiah meets Deve Gowda, inquires about former PM's health
Bengaluru, Sep 19: Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Monday called on former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda at the latter's residence here to inquire about his health.
Soon after the Legislative Assembly session for the day ended, the former Chief Minister, along with his party legislators R V Deshpande, B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, and Ajay Dharam Singh, among others, drove to the 89-year-old leader's Padmanabhanagar residence here.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Siddaramaiah said he was visiting Gowda's residence after six years.
"I last visited him in 2016 as the Chief Minister to discuss the Cauvery water disputes case. Now, I found out that he was not in good health, so I visited to inquire about his health," he said.
Making it clear that no political discussions took place between them, the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly said Gowda complained of knee pain and hence was unable to walk freely, and was using a walker.
"He (Gowda) said rest are all normal, including intake of food....he also said that he watches Assembly proceedings on TV... his memory power is very good."
To a question about the visit being seen as a "shishya meeting his political guru", Siddaramaiah said, "...he (Gowda) is a senior politician in the country and in the State too. I had come to inquire about his health. We are in different parties, party politics are different, humanity is different and it is important."
The duo has been considered as political bete-noires since 2006, when Siddaramaiah quit as Deputy Chief Minister and subsequently joined the Congress, after being expelled from the JD(S).
However, the hung verdict in the 2018 Assembly elections had forced both the stalwarts to swallow their pride and join hands to fight for survival, resulting in the formation of Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the State under the leadership of Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy.
Following the collapse of the coalition government in 2019 due to internal squabbles, the animosity between the two again surfaced and they publicly criticised each other for the downfall of the partnership.
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
