Karnataka Minister to retire if Modi gets re-elected

Mysuru (Karnataka): Karnataka's PWD Minister and senior Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Revanna on Thursday said if he quit politics if Prime Minister Narendra Modi got re-elected from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency to become PM again.

"I will retire from politics if Modi gets re-elected from Varanasi and becomes Prime Minister again. The BJP will not come to power this time," Revanna told reporters here, about 150 km away from Bengaluru.

Revanna, second son of JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and elder brother of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, is in the city to campaign for Congress candidate C.H. Vijayshankar, contesting against outgoing BJP member Pratap Simha from the Mysore Lok Sabha seat.

"Our party (JD-S) has joined the Congress as a pre-poll alliance to bring the UPA back to power and keep the 'communal' BJP out as we have to protect the interests of distressed farmers across the country," said Revanna.

"I would like to know what Modi has done to farmers in the last 5 years. Though the state government sent to a list of 15 lakh farmers to the central government for including them in the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, Modi claimed that the Centre was yet to receive it. This is a lie," said Revanna.