Jayakumar blames Gowda, his sons for quitting JD(S)

Former Nanjangud MLA D T Jayakumar, who quit JD (S) and joined BJP has charged that Janata Dal (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and his sons, H D Kumaraswamy and H D Revanna gave him unbearable trouble in the party.

“They are interested in themselves and their future,” charged in Mysore today.

Addressing his first press conference after quitting the JD (S), he tried to defend his action by listing out reasons for his decision to join the BJP, against which he had made strong attacks, to the extent of criticising chief minister B S Yeddyurappa as “unfit for the post.”

He accused Gowda and his sons for making all efforts to put him down as, “They have done in case of many other JD (S) leaders who were forced to quit the party.”

“Despite building the Janata Dal for nearly three decades as its loyal worker, I was sidelined. They ignored the interests of the backward classes like Pariwara and Talavara, which I sought very much. They even denied me ticket to contest from the Chamundeswari Assembly constituency. I had to accept blindly whatever they said and could not open my mouth. It was a throttling situation to be in JD (S). No one can expect social justice from that party,” the former minister criticised.

Jayakumar, who rejoined the JD (S) after a futile attempt as the BSP candidate in the last Assembly election and was offered the post of working president when he complained of being sidelined by the party leadership, said he had joined the BJP accepting its ideology and not aspiring for any post or position. His criticism against Yeddyurappa was only circumstantial, he defended.

He said a situation of his returning to JD (S) would not arise again and rather he would quit politics. His was not a defection, but he had joined the BJP in the process of political polarisation. He claimed that it was he who had brought Deve Gowda to JD (S). He was therefore senior to Deve Gowda in JD (S), Jayakumar said.

JD (S) leader H D Revanna declined to react to the remarks made by Jayakumar and said he was a small person to react to such ‘senior’ persons.