Playing up the apparent trust issues between coalition partners Congress and JD(S), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi was not contesting from Karnataka as he feared the JD(S) would “exact revenge” on him over the Congress withdrawing support to the Deve Gowda government at the Centre in the past.
Addressing an election rally in the city on Tuesday, Mr. Modi alluded to the JD(S) supremo’s stint as Prime Minister and said he had been forced to resign because the Congress, at the behest of Sonia Gandhi, withdrew support for his regime. “There was fear that Deve Gowda would exact revenge against Sonia Gandhi by not supporting Rahul Gandhi, so he did not contest from Karnataka,” Mr. Modi said.
He said the Congress has justified Mr. Gandhi’s decision to contest from Kerala as the result of his desire to do so from south India. “If so, he should have contested from Karnataka, where his own party is in power. The Congress even made efforts to scout for a safe seat [for him] in the State. But they had suspicions that Deve Gowda would take revenge and did not trust the JD(S),” the Prime Minister said.
He alleged that the Congress had sensed growing public anger against it and thus, the party president was forced to scout for a safe seat. Mr. Modi said that Mr. Gandhi was at risk of losing from his current Lok Sabha seat (Amethi).