Bengaluru, Jun 10: Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda said on Tuesday that he filed his nomination for the June 19 Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka in response to a collective call from national leaders to be back in the Parliament.
"Though I was not personally interested to contest, national leaders from Congress President Sonia Gandhi, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, TMC and Left parties want me back in Parliament," he told reporters here.
Gowda, 87, filed his nomination in the Vidhana Soudha, submitting the papers to Assembly Secretary and Returning Officer M.K. Vishalakshi, a party official told IANS.
Gowda''s second son and former minister H.D. Revanna and third son and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy were present on the occasion.
"Our party''s all 34 legislators also urged me to contest as my presence is necessary in Parliament at a time when the country was grappling with multiple crises in the aftermath of coronavirus," said Gowda.
Claiming that there was no pressure from his two sons as they are more concerned with his health, Gowda said he was touched by the requests of the national leaders, especially Gandhi who personally called him and asked him to contest as the country needed his presence in Parliament.
Gowda agreed to contest in the bypoll as his party''s candidate after the Congress state unit assured him of its support with its surplus votes, as the JD-S with 34 legislators is short of 10 votes of the required 44 votes.
It will be second time Gowda will enter the Rajya Sabha, 24 years after he was its member as the Prime Minster from June 1996 to April 1997 of the United Front government.
"Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal informed Kumaraswamy on June 6 that the party was fielding only its senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge from Karnataka and had surplus votes to ensure my victory as our party is 10 votes short of the required 44 votes to win," Gowda said.
Kharge filed his nomination on Monday.
Party''s outgoing member Kupendra Reddy, whose 6-year term ends on June 25, told Gowda that he was not interested for a second term as he did not get enough time in the upper house to raise issues.
"As our party does not have numbers in Parliament to get more time allotted to raise issues and participate in debates, Reddy wanted me to be in the Rajya Sabha in his place so that I could serve the nation better," Gowda said.
Gowda lost in the May 2019 general elections from Tumkur to G.S. Basvaraj of the BJP.
With the term of the four members -- Congress'' B.K. Hariprasad and Rajeev Gowda, BJP''s Prabhakar Kore and JD-S''s Reddy ending on June 25, the Election Commission notified the poll on June 1.
According to the poll panel, the nominations will be scrutinised on Wednesday and last date for withdrawal by candidates is June 12. Polling and vote count is on June 19.
From the ruling BJP, its grassroot cadres Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti filed their nominations after Gowda.
By fielding Gowda for the fourth seat, the Congress and JD-S, who had post-poll and pre-poll alliances for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections in May 2019 and May 2018, queered the pitch for the BJP, denying it the chance to win a third seat.
Comments
Naren please wake up from your dream.
Natasha alias nattu ..it works like baaydu maga maga ...banji du baga ...every powerful leaders are like that only .trump is also same ...nattu meaning na kelu nimma CD team hatra ...editor ge tulu baralla ...but staff knows well ...they will explain u ...silently we must finish what we have thought ...
In the end its all about power. Power insane.
Lol...Ban on Muslims was also a ' Chunaavi Jumla'?
Boothada Baayalli Bagavathgeethe!!
jihadis tried to block modi , they failed ... they tried their level best to block trump , they failed very badly ... islamic countries will have tough time dealing with US . Mr putin also hates islamic millitancy o the core . i got latest information from israel , israel govt banned public reckless screaming as it was annoying its citizen .. positive sign ...hahaha
ALLAH says in QURAN:
Say (O Muhammad pbuh) : O Allah! Possessor of the kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom you will, and You take the kingdom from whom you will, and You endue with honour whom you will and you humiliate whom you will. In your hand is the good. Verily, you are able to do all things...
Do people think without God's will Trump or Modi came to power.. NEVER. Allah will take care if the powers are misused ... People should know the QURAN mentioned of the tyrant ruler like Pharoah and his mightiest army... and how they were destroyed when mankind was oppressed by the arrogant leaders of that time..
He takes advice from jumla man???
Another jumla baazi.. Now this is really a burnol moment.
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