Kharge in touch with JD(S) leadership for possible tie up in Kalaburagi municipal corporation: Deve Gowda

With the September 3 polls to the Kalaburagi Municipal Corporation throwing up a fractured mandate, former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda said former union minister and senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had spoken to him and his son Kumaraswamy about a possible tie-up.

The Municipal corporations of Kalaburagi, Huballi-Dharwad and Belagavi went to the polls that day.

”Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Kalaburagi, spoke to me and Kumaraswamy as well. I advised Kumaraswamy not to decide among ourselves about a tie-up without taking the opinion of local leaders,” Gowda told reporters here, but did not divulge details of what the Congress leader had told him.

He said that Kharge, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congress state chief D K Shivakumar would hold talks among themselves on the possible tie up.

The election results were announced on Monday. In the 55-seat Kalaburagi municipal corporation, Congress won 27, BJP 23, JD(S) 4 and an independent, one seat.

The BJP came up trumps in Belagavi with a clear majority and emerged as the single largest party in Hubballi-Dharwad. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said on Monday that the BJP would have its mayors in all the three corporations.

However, Gowda said no one from the BJP has spoken to him yet. ”Basavaraj Bommai may have spoken to Kumaraswamy, but no BJP leader has spoken to me,” he said.

The 88-year-old leader said Kharge might also have contacted local JD(S) leaders and spoken to them. On his party’s performance in the municipal elections, Gowda said he was pleased with winning four seats in Kalaburagi, where Kumaraswamy had gone and campaigned.

The party had expected to win at least three or four seats in Hubballi-Dharwad, but got only one, he said and added that its position was not good in Belagavi. Victory and defeat are part of electoral politics, Gowda said, adding there was no need for anyone to get disappointed as the JD(S) leadership would pay more attention now towards the membership drive and building the party afresh.