Only PM Modi knows: Deve Gowda says on LS talks, plans for son Kumaraswamy

HAVING entered into an alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, the JD(S) is waiting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make crucial decisions, including the possible induction of former CM H D Kumaraswamy into the Union Cabinet, the seats the JD(S) will contest, and the candidates.

Indicating this on Saturday, the JD(S) national president and former PM, H D Deve Gowda, said: “No discussion has happened in my presence. We do not know what is on Modi’s mind. He does not reveal what is on his mind. In many states, he has made new leaders chief ministers, to the surprise of all. Modi keeps his action plans close to his chest. Even his colleagues do not know what he is planning.”

On one issue though, the 90-year-old, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, was categorical: that he would not be contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

There has been speculation that Kumaraswamy will be inducted in the Modi Cabinet ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to show the strength of the new BJP-JD(S) alliance, and that he will subsequently contest from the Vokkaliga heartland seat of Mandya, which the party lost in 2019. The rumours were further strengthened after Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda met Deve Gowda and son Kumaraswamy last week, with talk that Kumaraswamy may get the portfolio.

Deve Gowda has always projected himself as a humble farmer leader.

But after the meeting with Munda, Kumaraswamy said: “I have not thought about becoming a Union minister. My aim is to defeat the Congress party in all the 28 Lok Sabha seats (in Karnataka)… What will I do becoming a Union minister?… I have no desire to be a minister and there has been no discussion.”

The JD(S) leader also added that the window of his appointment was very narrow as the