No leader other than Modi, Shah capable of solving country’s problems: Deve Gowda

Bengaluru, Mar 29 (PTI) Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Friday said there are no leaders other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah who can solve all the problems at the national level. At the same time, the JD(S) patriarch underlined the need for better coordination between his party and BJP to achieve the target of winning all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.

JD(S) joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September last year. As part of the seat-sharing deal in the State, BJP will contest in 25 constituencies and the JD(S) in three.

Noting that the role of former Chief Minister and BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa was very important, Gowda said he must forget whatever had happened in the past “because the time is very short”.

“Our opponents are so strong. Don’t think that we are going to win all the 28 seats unless and until we forget what all had happened in the past and our differences,” the 91-year-old said at a coordination meeting of the two parties here.

Stating that “other than Modi there is no leader in this country”, Gowda said he knows each and every corner of the nation having served the country as Prime Minister for a decade.

“Only Modi and Shah are the two leaders who can solve all the problems at the national level,” the nonagenarian leader said.

Gowda cautioned the BJP and JD(S) leaders against taking the Congress lightly as, he claimed, the Mallikarjun Kharge-led outfit has "huge financial resources." “In the present Congress government (in Karnataka), money reserve is one of the major areas for them. Can you challenge? Entire Bengaluru and every department are in the hands of one leader. It is not easy to challenge the Congress resources. Not so simple," he said.

According to Gowda, no one knows how much money has been pumped in by the Congress in Mandya from where his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is contesting as the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate.

“Today this so-called Congress is only in four states and the money has to be supplied from Karnataka. The president of AICC (Kharge) is from Karnataka. Please understand. It is not so easy (to win the election),” he said.

To highlight the "resource mobilisation" by the Congress in the Lok Sabha election, Gowda said never ever in the history of Karnataka 94 MLAs are holding the position of cabinet rank (including by way of holding positions as chairpersons of various state-owned boards and corporations.) He also lashed out at Siddaramaiah for his statement “where is JD(S) in the state?” “I will prove that 91-year-old Deve Gowda has the strength to demonstrate where the JD(S) is. I will not be scared. I don’t have any fear,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Yediyurappa expressed confidence that the BJP-JD(S) alliance will win all the 28 seats.

Yediyurappa also hit out at the Congress government for allegedly stopping all the development works.

“There is nothing much to say about this government. People have lost their trust in it. Its coffers are empty and development works have come to a halt,” he added. PTI