Daijiworld Media Network – Bijapur (SP)

Bijapur, Jan 23: Speaking to reporters here on Friday January 22, during his visit to the city to welcome expelled BJP leader and former union minister, Basanagouda Patil Yetnal, and his followers into the JDS, former prime minister and national president of the JDS, H D Deve Gowda, claimed that his party has not suffered any harm by the desertions of MLCs, Tippanna and Gurudev.

“Tippanna was not a leader of national stature. The fact that Gurudev has resigned, has made the party activists in Hassan very happy,” he commented, in reply to questions raised by the media men.”

“I actually did a favour to these two persons by offering the posts of legislators, when they were of no consequence. This is the way they have showed their gratitude for the favour received. The party has not been affected in any way because of their resignations,” he contended.

When Gowda’s attention was drawn to the allegation by former minister, Iqbal Ansari, that the JDS has been meting out unjust treatment to the minorities, he said that the people from the minorities have been given maximum recognition, positions and power by his party. “I do not know under what context Ansari passed this comment. At the same time, the JDS is not confined to any single community or personality,” he claimed.

Former state Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy, said that the entry of Basanagoude Yetnal, a prominent Lingayat leader, into the JDS, has vindicated  the party against the allegations that the JDS is opposed to the Veerashaiva Lingayats.