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Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has claimed that JD(S) and BJP workers had been working together unofficially since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on March 28, a day after participating in a co-ordination meeting between leaders of BJP and JD(S), Mr. Kumaraswamy said he does not see any thorny issues relating to co-ordination between the workers of the two alliance partners.
While workers of the two parties were unofficially working together since the 2014 polls, Mr. Kumaraswamy said they will now officially work towards a common goal in view of the pre-poll understanding between the BJP and JD(S).
The co-ordination meeting between leaders of BJP and JD(S), held in Mysuru on March 27 resolved to take the grassroots-level workers of both parties into confidence and treat them with respect. “There is no lack of co-ordination between workers of the two parties,” he said.
Responding to queries on Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh’s support for his candidature as the nominee of the BJP-JD(S) combine in Mandya, Mr. Kumaraswamy struck a conciliatory note and said the incumbent MP is not his ‘enemy’.
Expressing confidence that Ms. Sumalatha’s reported disappointment over the BJP’s decision to cede the constituency to JD(S), ignoring her claims, will be resolved soon, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he and Ms. Sumalatha’s late husband Ambareesh had grown together in politics.
To a question, he said he will meet Ms. Sumalatha if such a need arises.
Responding to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s claim that Mr. Kumaraswamy is an ‘outsider’ in Mandya and would be defeated in the Lok Sabha polls, the JD(S) leader drew attention to the Congress leader contesting from Badami during the 2018 Assembly elections. “I am a Kannadiga and I will contest from whichever constituency people and my party workers want me to contest,” he said.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said Mr. Siddaramaiah is a ‘migrant’ even in the Congress party. He accused Mr. Siddaramaiah of casting all the ‘original’ Congressmen into the dust bin and taking control of the party.
With regard to former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda raising the issue of Mekedatu, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the JD(S) supremo was forced to make a trip to Delhi and discuss the matter with lawyers after the DMK, an alliance partner of the Congress party, vowed to prevent construction of the Mekedatu reservoir in its poll manifesto.
He sought to know what steps the Congress had taken with regard to the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project even though almost a year had elapsed since the party came to power after organising a padayatra (foot march) demanding implementation of the project.
