Congress needs us, says HDK

BANGALORE: “The Congress cannot survive without JD(S)’s support.” Throwing down the gauntlet to the larger, national party, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy sought to wrest the initiative and set the terms for a potential alliance between JD(S) and Congress in the run-up to the civic polls next month.The fact thathis party hardly has a presence in the city — just one of the city’s28 MLAs is from JD(S) — did nothing to dampen Kumaraswamy’s beliefthat his party on its own would win 70-80 of the 198 seats. Though down withviral fever, the MP from Bangalore Rural spent nearly two hours at The Times ofIndia office on Friday evening, holding forth on issues ranging from hisrelationship with his father, former PM Deve Gowda, to his optimism aboutJD(S)’ chances in the municipal elections.Kumaraswamywasn’t categorical about going it alone either. He said, “It’sup to the Congress to approach us. If they seek to dictate terms saying they arethe bigger party, then it won’t be acceptable to us.” He made itclear that local Congress leaders who “see JD(S) as a bigger threat thanBJP” are a problem while never failing to stress on his “goodequation on a personal basis,” with the central Congress leadership.A Congress-JD(S) combine would easily win nearly three-fourths ofthe seats at 130-140, he said.“We have a good chance in theperiphery of the city. The expansion of Bangalore favours us as the castecomposition in the exteriors will work to our advantage,” he said, addingthat caste is a big factor in voting, whether in urban or rural areas. He alsotried to dispel the ‘anti-Bangalore, anti-IT/BT’ image that JD(S)has acquired saying it was an erroneous impression and created by vestedinterests.