Karnataka - Hassan   

I will not retire from active politics: Deve Gowda

HASSAN: Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Wednesday said that he would not retire from active politics. Addressing presspersons here, he said it was his nature to face challenges.

“There are people who say that there is generation gap and want me to retire from politics. I will not believe such things and will not retire. All through my life I have accepted challenges and faced them boldly,” Mr. Gowda said.

On the delay in starting of Mangalore-Hassan-Bangalore train service, he declined to comment and said that he would answer the question when he visits Hassan next week.

Mr. Gowda claimed that it was at his request that Hassan dist was included in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Earlier only five districts in the State had been included in the project. Now Hassan had become the sixth district.

He said that he had met Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in September when he came to Bangalore and had stressed the need for including Hassan district under the NREGS. Mr. Pawar suggested me him to write to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, the Planning Commission and the Union Rural Development Minister. He claimed that after he had written to the leaders, Hassan was included in the scheme.

Former Rajya Sabha member H.K. Javare Gowda, Hassan District Central Cooperative Bank president Patel Shivaram and zilla panchayat president C.N. Balakrishna were present on the occasion.

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