JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda on Friday clarified that his ‘mid-term election’ remark was about the local body elections and not for the Karnataka assembly polls.
Gowda told reporters in Bengaluru, “I said it for local body elections and not for the assembly elections. I am here to build my party. As HD Kumaraswamy mentioned, the coalition government will continue for the next four years. There is an understanding between the JD(S) and the Congress party.”
Amid simmering differences between the two allies, Gowda had claimed that mid-term elections would ‘no doubt’ be held in the state.
“There is no doubt that there will be mid-term polls. They (Congress) said they will support us for five years but look at their behaviour now. Our people are smart,” he had said.
He had also claimed that he did not want his son HD Kumaraswamy to become the Chief Minister of the state.
“People are carefully watching everything. I did not ask them for a coalition government. I did not ask for the chief ministerial post to my son Kumaraswamy. They (Congress) themselves called me and asked me to form the government. I will continue my work. I do not want to blame anyone,” the JD(S) supremo had said.
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Both the Congress and the JD(S), which contested the Lok Sabha elections as allies, failed to make a mark. The BJP won 25 out of 28 parliamentary constituencies in the state. The Congress and the JD(S) won one seat each.
The JD(S) and Congress had stitched an alliance after the Karnataka Assembly elections last year to keep the BJP away from forming government. Together they won 114 seats (Congress won 77 and JD(S) 37) in the 224-member Assembly.