Terse warning to Congress by former PM H D Deve.

 BENGALURU: In Karnataka, former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday issued a terse warning to the Congress not to take his regional party for granted. “Six non-NDA parties may have attended the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy as chief minister to present a united opposition, but it is not necessary that they will contest together in all states in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” Gowda told the reporters in New Delhi.

Gowda said the Samajwadi Party and BJP are still discussing about the  sharing of 40 seats each in the general elections in Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal, TMC and Congress have almost reached a consensus to fight together. But in other states, including NCP in Maharashtra, TDP in Andhra Pradesh and TRS in Telangana are yet to take a stand.

“Only in Karnataka, we have decided to fight with the Congress, despite having small differences. So far, there hasn’t been any discussion on this issue. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Kumaraswamy will discuss and finalise and I will also meet some non-NDA leaders in the coming days to apprise them, “ he said.

In the same tenor, Gowda also pitched in for a Lok Sabha seat for its alliance partner BJP.“We have decided to give away one parliamentary seat in Karnataka to BJP. In return, I will ask BSP to give one seat in Uttar Pradesh to K Danish Ali (JD(S) secretary general). In Kerala, LDF will give one seat to us,” he added.

The JD(S) leader had also clarified that he was not in New Delhi to meet the Congress leaders and complain against the former CM and Congress-JD'S coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah, but to attend a meeting of a parliamentary.

Calling for the early formation of a Third Front, Gowda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah had given enough indication of advancing the Lok Sabha elections from April next year to November-December this year, to coincide with the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

“We (non-NDA allies) need to form a Third Front at the earliest to take on the BJP,” he added.