JD(S) will contest one-third of LS seats in Karnataka: HD Deve Gowda

Former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda on Tuesday said his party will contest in one-third of the seats in Karnataka, leaving aside two-thirds for the Congress, its coalition partner in the state.

Speaking to reporters here, Gowda said the JD(S) has already discussed the seat sharing with the party high command. He also said the seat-sharing on the 2019 elections were part of the talks when both the parties entered into an alliance in the state. Of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, the party will contest in 9 or 10 seats. Earlier last month, Gowda had told reporters that grandson Prajwal Revanna will be one of the party's candidates, contesting from his traditional seat Hassan.

Gowda also took a dig at the 'accidental PM' controversy, started by the Vijay Gutte film which will portray the dual power structure in the Congress under the UPA. "How can they call Dr Manmohan Singh an accidental prime minister. He was the PM for 10 years. I was the 'accidental PM' if there ever was one," he said. He was making a reference to the United Front government of 1996, which he led as the PM for a mere 10 months.

He further criticised PM Modi who said that in Karnataka, the Congress-JD(S) combine has not disbursed farm loan waivers yet, and called it a "lollipop scheme". He said as on December 30, over 2.2 lakh farmers have benefited from the scheme and Rs 350 crore have been disbursed already.