'Always stood for secularism,' says Deve Gowda

Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda said he invariably stood for secularism in his political life and not for emotional politics. In an exclusive interview to ANI, Deve Gowda spoke about his support to the Congress in Bengaluru Corporation, his commitment to secularism and his take on previous governments.

HD Deve Gowda said, "From day 1 I have stood for secularism, not for emotional politics. When I became CM I asked DG Ramalingam how many Muslim constables are there in Police Dept? He said 0.01%. So it was humanity which made me give reservations."

"Karnataka suffered badly under BJP rule, they had 3 CMs in 5 years. This is BJP's contribution. In 5 years of Congress rule though there was only one CM look what has happened to Lokayukta. Or the Public Service Commission or even the Corporation," he said.

However, as far as his party's support to Congress in city corporation is concerned, Deve Gowda said the support was to protect secular his credentials.

"I have also to take the blame as I supported Congress (in the Corporation). Just only to protect my secular credentials, I agreed to support them. The BJP was at my doors but I said no to it," Deve Gowda said.

On the allegation that JDS is called as a father-son party, Deve Gowda said he could only laugh about it.

"There are 4 former ministers who belong to a backward class, and five-time ministers are all in the field.If media doesn't want to take this into consideration but only harp about father and son then I can only laugh at it," he said.