Bangarappa to initiate alliance between JD(S), Congress

Bangalore, Nov 26 (UNI) Former Karnataka chief minister S Bangarappa today said he has taken an initiative to bring poll understanding between the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) for the next month byelection to seven assembly seats in the state.

Talking to newspersons here, he said he had already started the dialogue on poll understanding with JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, H D Revanna and also with Congress leaders, including State President R V Deshpande and Working President D K Shivkumar.

''Since both the party leaders have shown their willingness, further dialogue would continue with them soon,'' he said.

''I will be leaving to Delhi tonight to attend the Parliamentary Committee on Defence Meeting tomorrow. I will meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi and appraise her of the political situation in the State and the need for alliance between her party and the JD(S) in the interest of the State and keeping in view the Lok Sabha elections next year,'' he said.

Mr Bangarappa, who is also the Samajwadi Party Karnataka president, said his party would not field candidates in the byelection but extend support to secular forces.

''My intention is to safeguard the interest of the state and it is a good opportunity to bring down the BJP from power since the elections were necessitated only because of unethical 'Operation Lotus' by the BJP to get a simple majority and form its government,'' he said.

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