Gowda says he can back common platform against BJP for 2024 national polls

Gowda cited infighting in the Congress but added they will see if the opposition parties come together.

Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has said he is yet to be approached for efforts at the national level to bring non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties on a common platform before the 2024 national elections.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. (HT Photo)

“…If they are all coming together, I can extend my cooperation,” he said in an interview with Hindustan Times when asked if Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge or Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar approached him.

Gowda cited infighting in the Congress but added they will see if the opposition parties come together. “In Rajasthan, they [Congressmen] themselves are fighting.”

The comments came days after Nitish Kumar on Monday met his West Bengal counterpart, Mamata Banerjee, in Kolkata and Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow as he stepped up his efforts for unity against the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year. Kumar urged all opposition parties to hold talks to decide on a road map.

Gowda said the outcome of May 10 Karnataka polls will not give any indication about the 2024 parliament elections. “Karnataka only has 28 seats in the 545-strong Lok Sabha. How do we imagine that it will give a clear picture of 2024?’

Banerjee also on Monday said opposition parties must unite to send a strong message to the BJP, which has been in power at the Centre with a full majority since 2014.

Kumar earlier in April met Kharge and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi as part of efforts to forge a united platform and set off speculation that the BJP may have to face in the 2024 polls a coalition of parties that have also been political adversaries.

The BJP has dismissed the attempts to stall the party’s electoral juggernaut as futile.

Banerjee met Akhilesh Yadav and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik last month and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy earlier for talks on a common non-BJP platform.