After Stalin, JD(S) chief Deve Gowda endorses Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate

Deve Gowda said there was no doubt that his party would back the Congress president.

Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Saturday said that his party would support Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front.

Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda at the at the temple of Lord Venkateshwara in Tirumala in his 87th birthday. (HT PHOTO)

“We are with the Congress president. There is no doubt about it. A clear picture would emerge after May 23,” Gowda said, in a chat with reporters at Tirumala after paying obeisance at the temple of Lord Venkateshwara on his 87th birthday.

Gowda’s son and Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy also reiterated that the Congress president would be his party’s choice for the Prime Minister’s post. “We have already given our commitment to the Congress to this effect and there will be no change in our stand,” he asserted.

Earlier this week, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin also made it clear that his party would pitch for Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate. He even advised Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who met him in Chennai on May 13, to join the Congress-led coalition.

The Congress president, however, told reporters in New Delhi on Friday that the prime ministerial candidate of the grand alliance would be decided only after May 23.

Kumaraswamy expressed hope that the JD (S)-Congress combine would win a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in his state. “We are confident of getting 18-19 seats and will play a big role in the Centre,” he said.

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats.

Apart from Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda was accompanied by his wife, another son Revanna and other family members in his visit to Tirumala. He was received with full honours by the temple officials and led for darshan.

Later, Gowda was presented “teertha prasadams” by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal and Vedic pundits rendered ashirvachanams.

The former Prime Minister said he regularly visited the Tirumala temple on his birthday for blessings of the Lord Venkateshwara. “I prayed to God for better government at the Centre that will ensure peace and prosperity to the nation. I prayed there would be no division among the people on caste and religious lines, there are no farmers’ suicides and no communal hatred,” he said.