Patel denies move to isolate Gowda

BANGALORE, Dec 16: Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel ruled out that developments in the UF and in the state on forging new political equat...

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BANGALORE, Dec 16: Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel ruled out that developments in the UF and in the state on forging new political equations would sideline former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. Any such ideas were childish and there was no way one could keep a senior leader like Deve Gowda out of any new political formation, he said.

He revealed to the media here on Monday that if some of the ideas of Deve Gowda were not palatable to others, the problem could be rectified. “Personal ego of leaders should not come in the way of any new political realignments, if and when they take place,” he asserted.

Asked if the Janata Dal was prepared for an alliance with Hegde’s party in the Lok Sabha polls, he replied, “The United Front will not reject anybody’s assistance and cooperation to defeat the Congress and BJP. ”On the new outfit, “Karnataka Vikasa Paksha” floated by former Chief Minister S Bangarappa last week after his exit from the Congress, Patel said he was doing a good job of bringing down the Congress. “Let him be most successful”, he added.

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To another question he said the words like “like-minded and secular” have lost all meaning and the need of the hour was collective leadership to face the national problems.

On reports that Hegde, Congress president Sitaram kesri and former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad were hatching a plot to topple the Patel ministry, he said, “Who are these great men. Talks about destabilisation has been going on for so many months”.

He averred that his government’s stability could not be undone by any political alignments or realignments that might emerge at the national level.