H. D. Deve Gowda

Responding to a query on BJP leader and advocate G Devaraje Gowda’s allegations that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is behind the circulation of pen drive containing explicit videos involving Prajwal Revanna, Gowda said, Kumaraswamy will respond to all of this.

The national executive meet and national council meet of the JD(S) began on Thursday at the JP Bhavan, the party headquarters.

Of the 16 Rajya Sabha seats for which the voting was held on June 10, the BJP won eight and the Congress five. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena got one seat each while the BJP-JJP-backed media baron Kartikeya Sharma won one seat.

The JD(S) supremo noted that the state was fighting on two fronts - the COVID-19 pandemic and the floods and said he would visit Assam, 'God willing', after the virus abates.

The JD(S) supremo said the way relief has been announced for the milk producers by procuring the unsold milk and distributing it to the slum dwellers, the same assistance should be provided to the farmers of the state.

Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, he said, if the coalition government had continued such a situation would not have existed.

The familiar faces which were not seen included BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, former Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, M Veerappa Moily and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

After the meeting that lasted for over an hour, Rao told reporters that Deve Gowda had asked him to come home to discuss various issues.

G SBasavaraj secured 5,96,127 votes while Gowda got 5,82,788votes, according to the EC details.

The former prime minister also sought to know as to why article 370 of the Constitution that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be abolished.

'After consulting with all our legislators, our party chose Nikhil as JDS candidate from Mandya Lok Sabha constituency,' Gowda said at a party rally in Mandya, about 90 km from here.

The two parties had begun formal talks last week with the JDS insisting that 12 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats be conceded to it, but party supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda indicated Sunday that they were ready to compromise.

Modi said JDS would not win the assembly polls in the state under any circumstances and quoted political pundits, saying they had predicted that Gowda's party would be a "distant third", that too after "limping."

Gowda also slammed chief minister Siddaramaiah for suggesting that his party would back BJP. He claimed that it was Siddaramaiah who wanted to become Chief Minister in 2004 with the saffron party support when he was in the JDS.

The JDS supremo claimed that defeat was "staring" at Siddaramaiah's face in his own constituency of Chamundeshwari in Mysuru in the May 12 assembly polls.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today said a joint venture company in partnership with the Karnataka government will be set up in three months to take up railway projects.

"Prime Minister's image is decreasing day by day. NDA's failure in Bihar and Delhi shows he is no longer powerful. The situation for BJP will be pathetic in the five states where assembly elections are being held. To save face, Modi is making visits to Kerala", Gowda said.

Counting of votes for the recently held Assembly elections in Karnataka began this morning amid projections about the Congress' comeback to power after an eight-year-long hiatus.

JDS leader H D Deve Gowda today announced his party's support to UPA's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee. Deve Gowda said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sought his support after the Congress core committee cleared the name of Mukherjee, who himself called him two days ago.