JD(S)welcomes veteran Congress leader into its fold
Azmi joined JDS in party chief H D Deve Gowda's residence in Padmanabhanagar are of Bengaluru in the presence of Deve Gowda and former Congress leader C M Ibrahim. Apart from being a Rajya Sabha member between 1990 to 2008, Azmi is also member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
C M Ibrahim who is the State President for JDS said, "Obaidullah Khan Azmi has been very popular among the Muslim community. By working with leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan and V P Singh, Azmi is highly revered in the political theatre."
"JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy has made promises for Karnataka and Azmi has appreciated those promises. Azmi will be staying in Bengaluru and work for JDS till the elections have ended. He has provided us with his support and aims to make JDS a national party," Ibrahim concluded. Azmi claimed that the Janata Dal Government had worked for the development of all religions in the state. He also stated that after the Janata Dal split, JDS was the only party that was not corrupt.
"All sections of the society including the underprivileged were developed when the Janata Dal had formed the government. But after Janata Dal was split, only JDS stood as the party which is not corrupt. Deve Gowda had been a friend to Muslims. Deve Gowda was the one leader who gave adequate reservations to Muslims. Now, JDS gives hope to Muslims," Azmi mentioned.
While receiving Azmi into the party, H D Deve Gowda said that these are "tough times" and thanked Azmi for joining JDS. Deve Gowda also mentioned that he had worked with Azmi in the past and will work with him now. This development comes while the JDS is preparing the second list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. The recruitment drive of the JDS ahead of the elections indicate that the party has a strong objective of breaking up the vote share of other parties.