H D Deve Gowda Says Karnataka Will Have Mid-Term Polls; Attacks Congress For Not Fulfilling Promises

Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) H D Deve Gowda has come down strongly on his party’s alliance partner Congress, claiming that Karnataka is going to have mid-term elections, reports India Today.

"They (Congress) said they will support us for five years, but their behaviour hasn't been in line with this promise. Our people are smart. They are watching them (Congress)," Gowda said.

Commenting on the Lok Sabha election results, he remarked that it looked like Congress’s strength had declined.

On the question of the time frame till which the Karanataka government would be able to hold together, he asserted that this was up to the Congress and not Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

In another surprising claim, Gowda said that is was not his desire to make his son Kumaraswamy the chief minister, but that Congress leaders had in fact asked for him to let the latter take the helm in the state government. In fact, Gowda stated that he had recommended the name of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge for the chief ministerial post.