The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Deve Gowda exposed: Ravi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 17, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Deve Gowda exposed: Ravi

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Union Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi has said that the fact that the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and his son Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy shared the platform at a Janata Dal (Secular) meeting here on Saturday had given the lie to Mr. Deve Gowda's earlier claims of his opposition to the new coalition in the State.

In a statement to the press, Mr. Ravi, who is a former AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, said that it had now become clear that the coming together of the Janata Dal (S) and the BJP in Karnataka had the approval and consent of Mr. Deve Gowda.

Mr. Ravi was critical of the coalition Government's handling of the law and order situation in Bangalore in the wake of the death of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar.

He was of the view that the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, who is now Governor of Maharashtra, had handled the situation very well during the long period Rajkumar had been held captive by forest brigand Veerappan in 2000.

Mr. Ravi accused the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala of playing a double role by retaining the Janata Dal (S) led by Mr. Deve Gowda as a constituent, though that party had joined hands with the BJP in Karnataka to form a government.

Explanation sought

He said that the CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat owed an explanation as to why the LDF had retained the Janata Dal (S) as a constituent.

The Union Minister alleged that Mr. Deve Gowda was making efforts to secure BJP votes for Janata Dal (S) candidates in the four constituencies they were contesting in the Kerala Assembly elections.

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