BANGALORE: By aligning with the BJP, Janata Dal (S) president H.D. Deve Gowda had orchestrated the virtual decimation of the third front that he himself had nurtured, Congress leader Siddaramaiah said here on Sunday.

He had brazenly put his "putravyamoha" before the secular cause that he vociferously espoused, the former Deputy Chief Minister said.

He was speaking at a Congress rally at Palace Grounds here, where he formally led the AIPJD into the Congress fold.

The former Deputy Chief Minister indicated that the purpose of joining the Congress was to expose Mr. Deve Gowda who had helped his son H.D. Kumaraswamy become Chief Minister.

"The JD (S) would never have won so many seats in the 2004 elections, but for its decision to make secularism and keeping communal forces out the main objective. But now, Mr. Deve Gowda's real objective has become known, and he will stop at nothing, even aligning with the BJP to achieve this aim," he said.

The former Prime Minister had given the BJP and communalism a toehold in Karnataka, and six months after being in power, the Government headed by his son had forgotten the people, Mr. Siddaramaiah charged.

The report card of this Government was riddled with scandals, and the partner for which the JD (S) abandoned the Congress was busy making allegations against the Deve Gowda family.

"People will suffer untold misery every day that this Government remains in power, and this is what I wish to counter. Only the Congress has the power to do this, and the AIPJD has merged with the party to strengthen it," he said.

Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly N. Dharam Singh spoke of his 20-month tenure as the head of the Congress-JD (S) coalition, and pointed out that no scandals or scams came to cast a shadow on the Government. The JD (S) had no reason at all to go in for the "unholy alliance" with the BJP, he said. He urged the Congress president Sonia Gandhi to prevail upon the Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government at the Centre to abide by the Mahajan Commission report on the Belgaum issue.

He had done his best as Chief Minister, and inspired by the leadership of Ms. Gandhi raised to the challenges of his onerous job in the most satisfactory manner, he said.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge eulogised Ms. Gandhi as the source of power that had kept the Congress united.

The small dais that was several hundred metres away from the cordoned off area accommodated very few persons, and two days ago party leaders were trying hard to find themselves sharing it with Ms. Gandhi.

Today, those who got to do so were Mr. Dharam Singh, Mr. Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council H.K. Patil, the former Ministers D.K. Shivakumar and R.V. Deshpande and the former Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar, who translated a part of Ms. Gandhi's speech from Hindi to Kannada.

The central leaders from Karnataka included the former Minister Margaret Alva, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha K. Rahman Khan and AICC general secretary B.K. Hariprasad.

Virtually it was the very presence of Mr. Siddaramaiah that helped the rally sustaining some interest till the end.

He drew the attention of the gathering both by sitting next to Ms. Gandhi and by his skilled oratory developed over the decades. A section of the crowd was electrified when he appeared on the dais.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail