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JD(S) rebels' claim challenged

Special Correspondent

`Minority community does not consider Gowda anti-secular'

Danish Ali

NEW DELHI: Janata Dal (Secular) Secretary General, Kunwar Danish Ali, on Saturday challenged the claim of rebels in the party that they enjoyed the majority support of the party, with 28 members of the national executive attending the national executive meeting convened by them at Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, he also refuted the claim of the rebels that the party president, H.D. Deve Gowda, was violating the basic principle of secularlism. "Not only just nine national executive members attended the meeting, but also not even one of the seven Muslim members of the national executive had participated in it."

`Clear proof'

This, he said, clearly proved that there was no major support for the rebels, and that the minority community stood firmly behind the leadership of Mr. Gowda and did not consider him anti-secular, despite the campaign to "tarnish his image."

"Mr. Gowda never compromised on the party's resolution to maintain equidistance from both the Congress and the BJP. All his life, he never had any electoral alliance with either party. This cannot be said about some of the rebel leaders. The former Karnataka Finance Minister, P.G.R. Sindhia, who now claims to be a champion of secularism, had fought the Assembly elections in 1999 as a candidate of the Janata Dal (United), which was then and still remains part of the BJP-led NDA."

He also faulted the rebels for convening the Thiruvanathapuram meeting as a meeting of the national executive on the ground that as per party constitution, meetings of the national executive could be convened only by party president or secretary general with the consent of the president.

The meeting was unconstitutional.

Besides, he charged suspended member of the national executive M.P. Veerendra Kumar withacting against Mr. Gowda because of personal vendetta.

"The party was allocated ticket for 12 assembly seats by the Left Democratic Front in Kerala during the last elections. But, this time it got only eight seats because Mr. Kumar wanted a ticket for his son. He sacrificed the interest of the party for the sake of his son."

Mr. Ali said the national executive meeting convened by Mr. Gowda here on Monday would show on whose side the party was.

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