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Our leaders sabotaged Deve Gowda election, paid voters to back BJP: Congress report

Former PM HD Deve Gowda of the JD(S) lost to BJP’s G.S. Basavaraj in Tumkur. JD(S) ally Congress’ district president blames ex-MP S.P. Muddahanumegowda for it.

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Bengaluru: Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Deve Gowda’s embarrassing Lok Sabha election defeat in Tumkur constituency was down to “internal sabotage” from his party’s ally, the Congress.

An internal report submitted by the Tumkur District Congress Committee president R. Ramakrishna to the party high command said cash given to a few local Congress leaders to be distributed to the voters was diverted towards BJP voters to convince them to vote against Deve Gowda.

He has squarely blamed S.P. Muddahanumegowda, who was Congress MP from Tumkur in the outgoing Lok Sabha, for Deve Gowda’s defeat.

The defeat was one of the most shocking in Deve Gowda’s nearly seven-decade-long political career, as he lost to the BJP’s G.S. Basavaraj by over 13,000 votes.

Congress general secretary Venugopal has promised to look into the report submitted by Ramakrishna, who expressed hope that strict action would be taken against those who betrayed the party.

“I have recommended that these who I have named in my report, who have been found indulging in anti-party activities, be immediately suspended,” Ramakrishna said.

What Ramakrishna’s report alleges

After a detailed investigation, Ramakrishna submitted his explosive report to Venugopal, who is also Karnataka in-charge. In the report, he said the BJP too had distributed money and that rebel Congress leaders went around asking voters to accept that money too.

He named several local Tumkuru leaders, including former Madhugiri legislator K.N. Rajanna, Youth Congress vice-president R. Rajendra and a few gram panchayat members, alleging fund diversion.

“They gave money to voters and asked people to vote for the BJP candidate. The cash provided by the party (Congress), that too was distributed to the voters,” the report stated.


Also readIt’s down to 86-yr-old Deve Gowda to revive JD(S) as family politics, poll rout threaten party


Despite knowing that his seat had gone to the JD(S) under the alliance’s seat-sharing formula, Muddahanumegowda filed his nomination as an Independent candidate in protest, as did Rajanna. Later, “in a dramatic manner they withdrew their nominations, but asked their followers not to vote for the coalition candidate… which is another major reason for the deficit in votes”, the report said.

“Their hasty move sent wrong signals to the cadre, but by the time both candidates were forced to withdraw their nomination, the damage had already been done. They also did not show any interest in campaigning for Deve Gowda,” Ramakrishna told ThePrint.

Citing the example of Madhugiri assembly segment, Ramakrishna said the BJP had gained votes from out of nowhere — in the 2018 Karnataka polls, the BJP candidate had received just about 2,500 votes, but within a year, that shot up to 72,909 votes in favour of Basavaraj. Since Madhugiri is a Congress stronghold, it only went to show that some of Congress leaders had gone behind the party’s back and supported the BJP, Ramakrishna alleged.


Also readDeve Gowda’s desperate family-first politics make even Pawar, KCR, Naidu clans look better


BJP’s rebuttal

The BJP has said the allegations of cash distribution made against it in Ramakrishna’s report are “baseless”.

“The people’s mandate was against the JD(S) candidate. Their allegations that we indulged in any malpractice is their way of covering up for their losses. We have never distributed money for votes and such allegations are totally baseless,” said BJP spokesperson S. Prakash.

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