Not interested to contest Rajya Sabha elections, says Deve Gowda

Putting all speculations to rest, Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former prime minister HD Deva Gowda on Sunday (January 12) said that he is not interested to contest the elections to the Rajya Sabha.

“I’m not interested to go to the Rajya Sabha. My concern is to build and strengthen the party. I had declared earlier that I will not contest elections anymore,” Gowda was quoted as saying by ANI.

Four Rajya Sabha seats are expected to fall vacant after the retirement of Rajeev Gowda and BK Hari Prasad of the Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and D Kupendra Reddy of the JD(S) on June 25 this year. Elections will be announced to the vacant seats soon after.

Recently, JD(S) spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed Ullah, while speaking at a meeting said that the party had requested Gowda to run for one of the seats.

According to Hindustan Times, another JD(S) leader said that Gowda is reluctant to contest. He, however, added that the party and the state need his to voice to be heard in Parliament to ‘protect the interests of Karnataka’.