Former prime minister and Janata Dal(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda at a rally to celebrate 25 years of the party in Vijayapur on Friday. | Photo credit: Rajendra Singh Hajeri
The Janata Dal(S)’s alliance with the BJP is strong and the party will remain in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the future, former prime minister and party supremo HD Deve Gowda said in Vijayapur on Friday.
He was speaking at a rally organized to celebrate 25 years since the founding of the party.
“Some people may say we may not stay in NDA. This is all false. We are in NDA and we will stay here. We are part of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has the power and ability to lead this country to a bright future,” the former prime minister said.
Mr Gowda hoped that Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy would become the next Chief Minister. Tracing his tenure as Prime Minister, Chief Minister and his son’s (Kumaraswamy) tenure as Chief Minister, he said both took several pro-people steps for the development of the state.
“Mr. Modi knows about loan waiver, about Gram Vastyavya (village stay) and all that. He knows which set of leaders is right to lead Karnataka. He knows fully the good governance that Mr. Kumaraswamy has given as Chief Minister. The day will come when Mr. Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah will support those political leaders and understand that they are political leaders. Janata Dal(S) offered them. It is left to the two leaders to make Mr. They have made Kumaraswamy the next chief minister of the state,” he said.
“On one hand Mr Modi is traveling the world and across India to strengthen the nation and on the other hand Congress workers are protesting shirtless,” he said.
“I have seen several governments. The present Congress government is the worst I have ever seen in my life. I am now 93 years old. Some people may think that this old man will stay at home. But I am not like that. I am traveling the state and rebuilding the party. One day I will go. But before that I am sure I will see a pro-people government installed in the state better than the one now.”
As Chief Minister, Mr Gowda said he inherited an empty coffers due to the mismanagement of previous governments. “But I didn’t stay calm. I raised bonds to run the state government. Later, as chief minister, I started the fast-track irrigation program that helped speed up projects across the country, including the Almatti dam in North Karnataka,” he said.
“Today, people in the North Karnataka region are getting water facilities because of the initiative I took when I was the Chief Minister and later the Prime Minister. I have never compromised the interest of Karnataka,” he said.
He called on people to fight for UKP’s third grade to be gazetted and assured them that he would join the protest inside and outside Parliament. Decades ago, some people asked me to join the Congress. “But I refused that for ideological reasons. I wanted to build and strengthen the regional party,” he said.
Party leaders Nikhil Kumaraswamy, GK Krishna Reddy, Mallesh Babu, Venkatrao Nadagouda, MLAs Alkod Hanumanthappa, Karemma Naik, Devanand Chouhan, BD Patil, Hanumant Mavinmarad and others were present.
Published – 27 Feb 2026 20:54 IST
