Bengaluru: JD(S) Supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda said that the Congress will meet its end in the State under the leadership of CM Siddaramaiah and Dy.CM D.K. Shivakumar.

Addressing a press meet here on Friday, Deve Gowda said: “I have seen politics in the country for the past 60 years. I am saying today that Congress is sure to meet its end under the current leadership in the State. We are certain that Congress will be defeated.” Congress is dreaming about winning 20 seats in the LS polls and this dream will never materialise, he added.

Maintaining that the BJP-JD(S) combination will win more number of seats than expected in the forthcoming LS polls, Deve Gowda expressed confidence that Modi will return as the PM with a thumping majority.

Stating that while Prime Minister Modi is worshipping  Lord Rama in Ayodhya, Congressmen in Karnataka were singing tunes for ‘Siddarama’ (in reference to CM Siddaramaiah).

Taking on D.K. Shivakumar, Deve Gowda wanted to know how much money the Dy.CM had sent to the Congress High Command for poll campaign for the recently held Assembly Polls in 5 States.

Accusing Shivakumar of money laundering, Deve Gowda urged the Government to take back 13,404 acres of land that is in control of NICE company. Displaying a copy of the letter which he had written to CM Siddaramaiah in this regard last October, the veteran JD(S) leader wondered why the Congress Government, which boasts of coming to the help of the poor, has been silent on the lands of farmers, which NICE company has taken in its possession.

Deve Gowda and HDK bat for Pratap Simmha

Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simmha got a shot in the arm on Friday, when former PM H.D. Deve Gowda and former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy (HDK) openly came out in support of the MP in the case where his (Simmha) younger brother is charged with illegal felling of trees in Belur taluk of Hassan.

Accusing CM Siddaramaiah of trying to implicate the MP’s brother in the tree-felling case, HDK said that the real accused in the case were Jayamma and Ravi and the MP’s brother had nothing to do with tree-felling.

Contending that the Forest Department officials named the MP’s brother as the third accused in the case following a diktat from the CM, Kumaraswamy reiterated that one of the accused Jayamma had leased out only her house and Vikram Simha (brother of the MP) is in no way concerned with the land where the trees were felled.

The former CM charged the Siddaramaiah-led Congress Government of misusing power to implicate the MP in the tree-felling case.