Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s reported praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi has drawn flak from former Minister A.H. Vishwanath.
Describing Mr. Gowda’s reported statement that had not seen a people’s leader like Mr. Modi in his 60-year-long political career as “chamchagiri” or sycophancy, Mr. Vishwanath sought to know from the JD(S) leader whether Mr. Modi was a better leader for the country than former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Monday, Mr. Vishwanath recalled that Mr. Nehru, when there was no food to feed the 33 crore people in the country, built dams across rivers and launched five-year programmes. Now, the country had reached such a stage that it was capable of not only feeding its 140 crore people, but also export food abroad.
Claiming that Mr. Gowda had a “vested interest” in issuing such a statement, Mr. Vishwanath reminded the former Prime Minister that his party’s name had the word secular. He wondered how a senior leader like Mr. Gowda, who had secular credentials, could lavish praise on Mr. Modi.
Mr. Vishwanath, who has been nominated to the Council by the previous BJP government, said even he sits by the side of the BJP members in the Legislative Council, but added that he was not a BJP MLC.
Reacting to the decision of the JD(S) to field a fifth candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in Mr. Kupendra Reddy, Mr. Vishwanath said the JD(S) and BJP will try to indulge in horse trading to win the elections.
